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THE:CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 
R. A. TORREY 


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eR 


CHRIST OF THE BIB 


BY 
Re AL TORREY 


DEAN, BIBLE INSTITUTE, LOS ANGELES 


Author “The God of the Bible,” “Is the Bible the Inerrant 
Word of God?”, “The Importance and Value of Proper 
Bible Study,” “The Real Christ,? “What the Bible 
Teaches,” “How to Work for Christ,” etc. 





GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 





COPYRIGHT, 1924, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 


The Bible text used in this volume is taken from the 
American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible, copyright 
1901 by Thomas Nelson & Sons and is used by permission. 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


— B- 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


INTRODUCTION 


Real Christianity centers in a person, Jesus the 
Christ, the actual Jesus of history, Jesus of the New 
Testament. Jesus Himself is the sum of everything 
that has any right to call itself Christianity. How im- 
portant it is then both to our thinking and to our 
everyday living that we know as fully and as exactly 
as we can The Christ of the Bible, Jesus the Christ. 

Furthermore, there can be no true knowledge of the 
One True God without knowing Jesus, the true Christ. 
This He Himself very clearly taught when He said 
in His prayer the night before His crucifixion: “This 
is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only 
true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even 
PES seG hile 1.77 

So the subject of this book is The Christ of the 
Bible. It is the logical and necessary sequel of my 
book of last year, The God of the Bible. The Christ 
of the Bible is the only Real Christ. All other Christs 
than the Christ of the Bible are false Christs: they 
are anti-Christs. They mislead and destroy all who 
believe in and follow them. 

There can be no question on the part of any one 
who has any considerable knowledge of the Christ set 
forth in God’s one and only book, the Bible, that there 
is a very wide and very radical difference between the 
Christ that the Bible so clearly and so fully describes 


Vv 


vi INTRODUCTION 


and the Christ of many modern poets and romancers 
and philosophers, and also the Christ of the rapidly 
increasing cults, and even the Christ of many sup- 
posedly evangelical preachers and theologians. The 
object of this book is to discover and understand as 
fully as we may the true Christ, the Christ of the 
Bible, that we may believe in and love and obey and . 
follow and worship Him. 

The chapters of this book were originally given as 
sermons to the author’s own congregation in Los 
Angeles, and broadcasted over the radio so that they 
were heard as far away as Vancouver and Central 
America and Honolulu. The immediate congregation 
before the writer was composed not only of men and 
women of all classes, but also of children of all ages; 
and many of these children testified that they under- 
stood and enjoyed all that was said and profited 
by it. What a suggestive illustration this is of the 
fact that needs to be deeply impressed on the modern 
mind, that in order to draw and hold large crowds it 
is not necessary to be superficial or to indulge largely 
in humor or pathetic anecdotes. One can interest the 
crowd in the profoundest truths if he can talk plain 
English in the power of the Holy Spirit. 

The language of the original sermons has been re- 
cast in a few sentences to make them more readable 
as chapters of a book and not too sermonic in form. . 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 
I Tue CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: IS THE CHRIST 


OF THE BIBLE Gop? i 4 : ‘ 


II Tue Curist oF THE BrisBLE: GoD, THE Fa- 
THER, Is GREATER THAN His Son, JEsus, 
Wuo Is THE CHRIST OF GOD Astin Cr DR 


III THe CHRIST oF THE BIBLE: WaAs CHRIST 
Jesus IN Every Respect A REAL MAN, oR 
Dip HE Onty SEEM To BE A Man . 


IV THe CuHrist oF tHE BrptE: His DEATH: 
How and Wuy He DIED, AND THE RE- 
SULTS OF His DEATH °’. ’ b f 


V THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: THE RESURREC- 
TION OF THE CHRIST FROM THE DEAD 


VI Tue ASCENSION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF 
THE BIBLE, AND His EXALTATION TO THE 
RicHT HaNnpD oF Gop THE FATHER . 


VIL Tue ReEtTuRN FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH OF 
JESUS, THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: OR, THE 
SECOND COMING OF THE TRUE CHRIST . K 


PAGE 


IL 


SYA 


55 


129 


179 


205 





THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 





THE CHRIST OF THE 
BIBLE 


CLTAL A Beeal 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: IS THE CHRIST OF THE 
BIBLE GOD? 


The subject that we are about to investigate and 
upon which we are to reflect is, The Christ of the 
Bible: the Christ of the Bible as distinguished from 
many of the popular representations of the Christ in 
our present day, and as distinguished from many of 
the representations of the Christ in our pulpits, and 
by not a few of our professors in the theological 
classes in our universities and in our theological semi- 
naries. 

It cannot be denied by any one who has any large 
knowledge of the teaching of God’s Word regarding 
the Christ whom God has anointed and sent into the 
world, and who is coming back some day to take the 
reins of government out of the hands of emperors 
and kings and presidents and soviets, and all other 
rulers, that the Christ set before us so clearly in the 
Word of God, the true Christ, the only real Christ, 
God’s own Christ, Christ Jesus, is far different from 


the Christ of many of our modern romancers and 
I 


12 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


poets, and sociologists and moralists and popular 
preachers, and even of many of our theologians, theo- 
logians sometimes in supposedly orthodox seminaries. 

We are to study the actual Christ of this Book, not 
the Christ that we would like to have or love to dream 
of, but the Christ that really IS. The Bible is one 
of the easiest books in the world to understand if 
men really wish to understand it and to find out what 
it actually teaches, and do not wish to read into it their 
own notions and speculations. It is sometimes said 
that “you can make the Bible mean almost anything.” 
Yes, you can, but the question is not what you can 
make it mean, but what God intended it to mean, and 
that is easy enough to find out provided you wish to 
find out and will get right down to hard, honest, 
earnest investigation. That is exactly what we shall 
endeavor to do under the illumination and guidance 
of the Holy Spirit Himself, the real author of the 
book, Whose guidance God has promised to all those 
whose wills and minds are fully surrendered to him 
to discover and do His will. (Jno. 7:17; Acts 5:32; 
Jno. 14: 15-26; 16: 7-13.) 

The particular subject of this chapter is: “The 
Christ of the Bible: Is He God?” 

This question about Christ, Is He God, is the most 
fundamental of all questions concerning Christ. If 
two persons are agreed about Christ at this point, 
agreed that He really is God, they can have fellow- 
ship together, though they may differ widely from 
one another upon many questions of quite secondary 
importance; e.g., the question, “When Christ is Com- 
ing Back to the Earth to Reign,” and the minute de- 


PEE GHRISTsOR DHE: BIBLE 13 


tails regarding His return. But if two really intelli- 
gent and earnest-minded persons are disagreed upon 
this point, if one believes that Christ is God and the 
other is equally confident that He is not God, how can 
there by any possibility be any true fellowship either 
in worship, in prayer or in anything that can properly 
be called “Christian work’? For if the one who 
denies that Christ is God is right, then the one who 
believes that He is and worships Him as such, is an 
idolator. And on the other hand, if the one who be- 
lieves that Christ is God, is right, the one who denies 
that He is God is a blasphemer and is robbing God 
of the Faith and Honor and Worship which are His 
due. 

“Is the Christ of the Bible, Jesus Christ, God?” 
This question is answered in the most unmistakable 
terms in the Bible. 


I. ALL THE DISTINCTIVE ATTRIBUTES OF DEITY 
ARE ASCRIBED TO HIM IN THE BIBLE. 


In the first place, We note that all the distinctive 
attributes of Deity are ascribed to Jesus, the Christ, 
in the Bible. What are the distinctive attributes of 
Deity; that is to say, what are the attributes God pos- 
sesses and no one but God possesses? Omnipotence, 
Omniscience, Omnipresence, Eternity, Immutability. 
Now all these distinctively divine attributes are 
ascribed to Jesus Christ in the Bible. It would take 
many pages to give all the passages with any fullness, 
but I can give you enough in a few pages to abun- 
dantly prove the point. 


14 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


1. First of all, Ommnipotence is ascribed to Jesus 
Christ. 
Read Eph. 1: 20-23: 
“Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised 
him from the dead, and made him to sit at his . 
right hand in the heavenly places, far above all 
rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, _ 
and every name that is named, not only in this 
world, but also in that which is to come: and 
he put all things in subjection under his feet, and 
gave him to be head over all things to the church, 
which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth 
all incally 
We are here told that Christ is now far above all 
principalities, and power, and might, and dominion, 
and every name that is named, not only in this world, 
but also in that which is to come—and that all things 
are in subjection under His feet. Even all the hier- 
archies of the angelic world are under Him. In these 
words we have the plainest possible declaration of 
omnipotence. In other passages which I will not take 
time to quote, we are told that Jesus, even during His 
earthly life, had power over disease, that it was sub- 
ject to His word; that He had power over death, that 
it was subject to His word; that He had power over 
the winds and the sea, that they were subject to His 
word; that He had power over demons, that they were 
subject to His word—and in the passage just quoted 
from the Epistle to the Ephesians we are told that 
He had power over all things, that “all things’ were 
put “in subjection under His feet.” 


LHe GHRISE OR THE: BIBLE 15 


Now read Heb. 1:3: 

“Who being the effulgence of his (God’s) 
glory, and the very image of his substance, and 
upholding all things by the word of his power, 
when he had made purification of sins, sat down 
on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” 

Here we are told that the Son of God, the Christ 
of God, upholds all things by the Word of His power. 
So we can say without the slightest hesitation that 
Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, is Omnipotent. 

2. In the second place, The Christ of the Bible ts 
Omniscient. ‘There are again a multitude of passages 
clearly showing this, but we will look at only three. 

(1) Look first at Jno. 2:24, 25: 

“But Jesus did not trust himself unto them, 
for that he knew all men, and because he needed 
not that any one should bear witness concerning 
man; for he himself knew what was in man.” 

Here we are told that Jesus knew all men, and in 
various passages in the Gospels, we are told that Jesus, 
even during His earthly life, knew the secret thoughts 
of men. Now in II Chron. 6: 30 we read: 

“Then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling- 
place, and forgive, and render unto every man 
according to all his ways, whose heart thou 
knowest (for thou, even thou only, knowest the 
hearts of the children of men). 

Here we are distinctly told that there is only One 
Being in the universe who knows the hearts of the 
children of men, and that is God—but we are just as 
distinctly told in the passage that we have just read 


16 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


in the Gospel of John, that Jesus knows the hearts 
of all men. So the inference is inescapable, that 
Jesus, the Christ of God, was Himself God. 

(2) Now look at Jno. 16: 30: 

“Now know we that thou knowest all things, 
and needest not that any man should ask thee?’ 

Here is a distinct declaration that Jesus’ disciples 
made and that Jesus Himself accepted as true, that 
our Lord Jesus knows all things—that He is Omnis- 
cient. 

(3) Look at just one more passage on this point. 
ON a Eee ab ae 

“Even Christ, in whom are all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge hidden.” 

Here is the definite and distinct declaration that “all 
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden 
in Jesus Christ. 

3. In the third place, We are also told that the 
Christ ts Omnipresent. This we are told again and 
again, but we will consider only four passages. 

(1) Look first at Matt. 18:19, 20. 

“For where two or three are gathered together 
in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” 

Here the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said that in 
every place where two or three are gathered together 
im His name, there He is, and as two or three are 
gathered together everywhere over the earth in His 
name at the same time, He must be at the same time 
in all these different places. 

(2) Now read Matt. 28:19, 20: 

“Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the 
nations, baptizing them into the name of the Fa- 


THE CHOHRIST OP SHE BIBLE 17 


ther and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever 
I commanded you: and lo, J am with you always, 
even unto the end of the world.” 

Here Jesus promises His disciples who go out to 
do His bidding and make disciples of all the nations, 
that wherever they go, He is with every one of them 
—and since they go into all the world, He must be 
present at the same time in every part of the world. 

(3) Now read a most remarkable passage—Jno. 
RATS: 

“And no one hath ascended into heaven, but 
he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of 
man, who is in heaven.”’ 

Here the Lord Jesus Christ declares that He was 
still in heaven while He was on earth. The reading 
in this passage is doubtful; that is to say, that it is 
not found in some manuscripts, but it is found in the 
Alexandrian MS. and in almost all the early versions, 
which were made before any of the MSS. now extant 
were written. This reading is accepted by most of the 
best editors of the Greek text; for example, by Tis- 
chendorf and Tregelles. It is, however, rejected by 
Westcott and Hort, but the weight of evidence for it 
is very great. But we can easily spare it, for essen- 
tially the same truth is so clearly set forth in so many 
other passages in the Scripture. 

(4) Just one more passage on this point of the 
Omnipresence of the Christ of the Bible. Read 
Ppa 

“The church, which is his (Christ’s) body, the 
fulness of him that filleth all in all.” 


® 


18 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


Here is the plain, uncompromising declaration that 
Jesus Christ filleth all in all. It is evident then that 
there can be no reasonable question that the Christ of 
the Bible 1s Omntipresent. 

4. In the fourth place, The Christ of the Bible 1s 
also Eternal as well as Omnipresent. ‘Take only three 
of the many passages that might be cited. 

(1) Read first Jno. 1:1: 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God.” 

Here we are told that the Word, the Person known 
as “the Word of God,’ Who became incarnate in Jesus 
of Nazareth, the Christ of God (Jno. 1:14), im the 
beginning already was. There could not by any 
possibility be any plainer declaration of His Eter- 
nity. 

(2) Now turn to the Old Testament. Micah 5:2: 

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathan, which art 
little to be among the thousands of Judah, out 
of thee shall one come forth unto me that is to 
be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from 
of old, from everlasting.” 

Here we are told that the Christ who was prophesied 
in the Old Testament was to be a being who had existed 
from all Eternity. This passage is all the more notable 
because it is from the Old Testament; and as we go 
on we shall see again and again that the predicted 
Christ of the Old Testament, as well as the historic 
Christ of the New Testament, is a Divine person. 

(3) Now turn to our Lord’s own words, in Jno. 
ya ate 

“And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine 


THE GHRIST OF THE BIBLE I9 


own self with the glory which I had with thee 
before the world was.” 

Here our Lord Jesus distinctly claims for Himself 
that He had existed from before the foundation of 
the material universe and had existed in Divine glory. 

It is clear, from these passages, as well as from 
many others which we need not stop to quote, that 
the Christ of the Bible is an Eternal Being and that 
He did not begin to be when He became incarnate in 
the person of Jesus of Nazareth. 

5. The fifth and only remaining distinctive and in- 
communicable attribute of Deity is Immutability, and 
this also is ascribed to Jesus Christ. 

Turn to Heb. 13:8: 

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, 
yea and forever.” 

Here is the plainest possible assertion of the Eternal 
Immutability of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

We see then that ALL THE DISTINCTIVE AT- 
Petes OP ODERDY, “ALL ; THE VAI ERI- 
BUTES THAT GOD. POSSESSES, AND) GOD 
ALONE POSSESSES, ARE ASCRIBED TO 
JESUS CHRIST IN THE BIBLE. In addition to 
all this, we are told in Col. 2:9 that— 

“In him dwelleth all the fullness of the God- 
head bodily.” 


II. SIXTEEN DIVINE NAMES AND TITLES. 


In the second place, not only are all the distinctively 
Divine attributes ascribed to Jesus Christ, but further- 
more, At least sixteen names or titles, that clearly 


20 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


imply Deity are used in speaking of Jesus Christ m 
the Bible and some of them are used over and over 
again. The total number of passages reaches far ito 
the hundreds. 

Of course, it is impossible for us in the time at our 
disposal to cite all these names and titles. If you wish 
to study the matter, you will find them in my book, 
“What the Bible Teaches.” But let me give you three 
which, even if they stood alone, would be quite suf- 
ficient to prove our point. 

Toe hurnto hi@oneense 

“Which none of the rulers of this world hath 
known: for had they known it, they would not 
have crucified the Lord of Glory?’ 

Here our Lord Jesus is called the Lord of Glory. 
Is that a Divine title? The Bible itself answers the 
question—read Psa. 24: 8-10: 

“Who is the King of glory? 
Jehovah strong and mighty, 
Jehovah mighty in battle. 
Lift up your heads, O ye gates; 
Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors: 
And the King of glory will come in. 
Who is this King of glory? 
Jehovah of hosts, 
He is the King of glory.” 

We are here told that it is Jehovah of hosts Who 
is the King of glory and He alone, but in the New 
Testament Paul unhesitatingly speaks of Christ Jesus 
as “the Lord of glory.” 

2. Now read Isa. 9:6: 

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is 


Ee GIR a OF THE BIBIOE 2%, 


given; and the government shall be upon his 
shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonder- 
ful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, 
Prince of Peace.” 

There are really three unmistakably Divine names 
in this passage. I could show you, if there were time, 
that the name “Wonderful” is a Divine name. But 
take two Divine names in the passage about which 
there can be no question: “Mighty God’—“Everlast- 
ing Father.” These are beyond any honest question, 
unmistakably Divine names, names that could only be 
applied to a Divine person and they are here applied, 
in this Old Testament prophecy, to the coming Mes- 
siah, or Christ. Leeser, the wily Jew, has tried to 
avoid the force of this passage by putting words into 
his English translation of this passage for which there 
are no equivalents whatever in the Hebrew text and 
which grossly violate the context. The comparatively 
recently published authoritative Jewish-English Old 
Testament tries to avoid the force of the Hebrew 
words found in this verse by simply transliterating 
the Hebrew words instead of translating them, but 
no Hebrew scholar can honestly look at the Hebrew 
text and not admit that three unmistakably Divine 
names are here applied to the Christ. 

3. Now read the angelic proclamation of the king 
who was to be born of the Virgin. You will find it 
in Matt. 1:23: 

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and 
shall bring forth a son, 

And they shall call his name Jmmanuel; 
which is, being interpreted, God with us.” 


22 THE CHRIST OF ‘THE SIBCE 


There can be no mistaking the fact that the angel 
who announced the birth of the coming Messiah gave 
to Him an unmistakably Divine name, “God with us.” 

4. Now turn to Rom. 9:5: 

“Whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ 
as concerning the flesh, Who is over all, God 
blessed forever. Amen.” 

Here the Holy Spirit, speaking through the Apostle 
Paul, distinctly declares that the Christ is “God 
blessed forever.’ The Unitarians have wrestled 
often and hard with this statement of Paul’s, and 
various interpretations have been suggested that would 
eliminate the plain declaration that Christ is “God 
blessed forever,’ but these interpretations are not 
candid nor straight nor reasonable, and they will not 
bear honest and unprejudiced examination. 

5. Read one other passage—in some ways the most 
significant of all the passages—Jno. 20: 28, 29: 

“Thomas answered and said unto him, My 
Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Be- 
cause thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: 
blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have 
believed.” 

Here again the Unitarians have wrestled hard to 
read out of these utterances of Thomas and of our 
Lord Jesus all that God has put into them, They say 
that Thomas was excited and indulged in profanity. 
If that is so, our Lord Jesus not only let his profanity 
go unreproved but praised him for it, which is incon- 
ceivable on the part of any one who has any respect 
for Christ as a reasonably intelligent and good man. 

Furthermore, Thomas not only offered this ascrip- 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 23 


tion of Deity and this worship to Jesus Christ, but 
Jesus Christ accepted it; and you cannot discredit 
or disallow it without impugning the moral character 
or sanity of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The 
Christ of the Bible was either ‘‘Lord and God,” or else 
He was a blasphemous impostor, or a pitiable lunatic. 
Take your choice—I have no difficulty in making 
mine. 


iI. ALL THE DISTINCTIVELY DIVINE OFFICES ARE 
PREDICATED OF JESUS CHRIST. 


In the third place, All the distinctively Divine offices, 
that 1s all the offices that God can perform and no one 
but God can perform, are ascribed to the Christ of 
the Bible. What are the distinctively Divine offices 
(that is, the offices that God can perform and God 
alone can perform)? Creation, Preservation in exist- 
ence of created things, the Forgiveness of Sins, the 
Raising of the Dead, the Transformation of our 
Bodies, the Bestowal of Eternal Life and Judgment. 
All these distinctively Divine offices are predicated of 
Jesus Christ in the Bible. We will take them up in 
the order given. 

1. First, Creation. Turn to Heb. 1:10: 

“And, 
Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the 
foundation of the earth, 
And the heavens are the works of thy hands :” 

The Lord in this passage, as is unquestionably clear 
from the context, is the Lord Jesus, and we are here 
distinctly told that the Lord Jesus was the one who 


24 THE) CHRIST“OF THE ‘BIBLE 


laid the foundation of the earth, and that the heavens 
are the work of His hands. The Christ of the Bible, 
Christ Jesus, is Creator. The one who is our Saviour 
is the one who also created the material universe. 

2. Second, Preservation. Turn to the 3rd verse 
of this same chapter: Heb. 1:3: 

“Who being the effulgence of his glory, and 
the very image of his substance, and upholding - 
all things by the word of his power, when he had 
made purification of sins, sat down on the right 
hand of the Majesty on high;” 

Here we are told that the Son of God, the Christ, 
upholds all created things by the Word of His own 
power. THE CHRIST OR ste BIBLE IS 2Eie 
PRESERVER OF ALLVCREA GED hI IN Gee 
do rejoice that it is the one who upholds all things by 
the Word of His power who is also my Saviour, Jesus 
Christ. 

3. Turn now to Mark 2: 5-11. 

“And Jesus seeing their faith saith unto the 
sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins are forgiven. But 
there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and 
reasoning in their hearts, Why doth this man thus 
speak? he blasphemeth: who can forgive sins but 
one, even God? And straightway Jesus, per- 
ceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within 
themselves, saith unto them, Why reason ye these 
things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to 
the sick of the palsy, Thy sins are forgiven; or 
to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? 
But that ye may know that the Son of man hath 
authority on earth to forgive sins (he saith to 


PHEC KIS TiOb Di  BIBICn 25 


the sick of the palsy), I say unto thee, Arise, take 
up thy bed, and go unto thy house.” 

Here Jesus Himself declares that He has authority 
on earth to forgive sins. They called Him a blas- 
phemer for claiming this, and if He were not Divine 
in a sense that no other man nor angel was Divine, 
He was a blasphemer in claiming this; you cannot save 
His moral character and deny His Deity. But if 
Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, is God, then it is the 
Unitarian and the New Theology man, and all who 
deny His distinctive and full Deity and who make 
Him out to be Divine only in the sense that we are 
all Divine, who are the outrageous blasphemers. 

In the passage in Luke 7: 40-47 Jesus distinctly 
taught that all sin was against Himself, which is an 
unmistakable claim of Deity. Read the passage care- 
fully and ponder it deeply. 

4. Turn now to Jno. 6: 39, 40: 

“And this is the will of him that sent me, that 
of all that which he hath given me I should lose 
nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 
For this is the will of my Father, that every one 
that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, 
should have eternal life, and J will raise him up 
at the last day.” (Read also v. 44.) 

Here we are told by Jesus Christ Himself, that tt 
is He Himself Who in the great coming day will 
raise the dead. Who then is He? There can be but 
one answer—He is God. 

5. Turn now to Phil. 3:20, 21: 

“For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also 
we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 


26 CHE CHRISTOF) THES BIBER 


who shall fashion anew the body of our humulia- 
tion, that it may be conformed to the body of his 
glory, according to the working whereby he ts 
able even to subject all things unto himself.” 

Here we are told that our Lord Jesus Christ, when 
He comes again, shall fashion anew these bodies of 
ours which are raised from the dead, into the likeness 
of His own glorious body. ‘This, of course, is un- 
questionably a Divine work; and furthermore, we are 
told in this passage that “He 1s able even to subject 
all things unto himself,’ the plainest possible declara- 
tion of absolute Omnipotence, which, of course, God 
alone possesses. 

6. Now read II Tim. 4:1: 

“T charge thee in the sight of God, and of 
Christ Jesus, who shall judge the living and the 
dead,” 

Here it is distinctly taught that Christ Jesus shall 
judge the living and the dead. 

In Jno. 5:22, 23 Jesus Christ Himself emphasized 
the Divine character of this office of judgment, which 
the Father had committed to Him. Here are His 
words : 

“For neither doth the Father judge any man, 
but he hath given all judgment unto the Son; 
that all may honor the Son, even as they honor 
the Father.” 

We will have occasion to refer to this passage 
again, but just note at this time that Jesus, the Christ 
of God, Himself taught that all men should pay the 
same Divine honor to Him that they did to God the 
Father. 


Die CHRIS -OR THE, DIBLE 27 


7. Now read Jno. 10: 28: 

“And I give unto them eternal life; and they 
shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them 
out of my hand.” 

Place alongside of this Jno. 17:1, 2. 

“These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his 
eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour is come; 
glorify thy Son, that the Son may glorify thee: 
even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, 
that to all whom thou hast given him, he should 
give eternal life.” 

In both of these passages Jesus Christ Himself de- 
clares that He is the giver of eternal life. This is 
also, beyond the possibility of question, a Divine 
office. 

To sum up what we have said under this head, 
Seven Distinctively Divine Offices are Predicated of 
Jesus Christ. 


IV. STATEMENTS WHICH IN THE OLD TESTAMENT 
ARE MADE DISTINCTLY OF JEHOVAH, GOD, 
TAKEN IN THE NEW TESTAMENT TO REFER 
nO yESUS CHRIST. 


In the fourth place, Statements which in the Old 
Testament are made of Jehovah, God, are taken in the 
New Testament to refer to Jesus Christ. There are 
many instances of this, but we shall consider only two 
illustrations. 

Taeiwead tteb). 1: 10-12: 

**And, 
Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the 
foundation of the earth, 


28 THE CHRIST (OR VTHEr GIB ite 


And the heavens are the works of thy hands: 
They shall perish; but thou continuest: 
And they all shall wax old as doth a garment; 
And as a mantle shalt thou roll them up, 
As a garment, and they shall be changed: 
But thou art the same, 
And thy years shall not fail.” | 
Now these words are here unhesitatingly applied to 
the Lord Jesus, but if you will turn to the Old Testa- 
ment passage which is quoted, Ps. 102: 24-27, the per- 
son who is there named as the subject of this ascrip- 
tion of praise given in the passage is God. The 
Psalmist says: 
“I said, O my God, take me not away in the 
midst of my days: 
Thy years are throughout all generations. 
Of old didst thou lay the foundation of the 
earth; 
And the heavens are the work of thy hands.” 
And the other words quoted in Heb. 1: 10-12 fol- 
low. So it is clear that a passage which distinctly 
names God as its subject in the Old Testament is taken 
to refer to the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Testa- 
ment; that is to say, in New Testament thought and 
doctrine Jesus, the Christ of God, occupies the place 
that Jehovah occupies in Old Testament thought and 
doctrine. 
2. Take another illustration of this. Read Isa. 
Bere. 
“Jehovah of hosts, him shall ye sanctify; and 
let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.” 
Here the Prophet Isaiah specifies Jehovah as the 


EH LOTER TS DiOe THe BIBICE 29 


one who is to be their fear and their dread, and dis- 
tinctly declares that He is the one whom they are to 
sanctify. But now turn to 1 Peter 3:14, 15: 
“But even if ye should suffer for righteousness’ 
sake, blessed are ye: and fear not their fear, 
neither be troubled; but sanctify in your hearts 
Christ, as Lordy. 

Here it is Christ who is to be sanctified as Lord in 
the heart. Here again it is perfectly clear that in 
New Testament thought and doctrine Jesus Christ 
occupies the place that Jehovah occupies in Old Testa- 
ment thought and doctrine. 


V. THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST IS COUPLED WITH 
THAT OF GOD, THE FATHER, IN A WAY THAT 
IT WOULD ‘BE IMPOSSIBLE. TO..COUPLE THAT 
OF ANY FINITE BEING WITH THAT OF THE 
DEITY. 


In the fifth place, The name and person of our Lord 
Jesus Christ is constantly coupled in the Bible with 
the name and person of the Eternal God, the Father, 
im a way that would be impossible for any intelligent 
and reverent mind to couple the name and person of 
any finite being with that of the Deity. I will give 
you but three illustrations among the many that might 
be cited, and all of these are taken from the words 
of Jesus Christ, Himself. 

I. First, John 14: 23: 

“Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man 
love me, he will keep my word: and my Father 
will love him, and we will come unto him, and 
make our abode with him.” 


30 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


Here the Lord Jesus Himself unhesitatingly speaks 
of God and Himself as “we’’; that is, “God and I.”’ 
If Jesus were not a Divine person, could anything 
surpass the audacious blasphemy of this? 

2. Now turn to the 17th chapter of John, the 3rd 
verse: | 
“And this is life eternal, that they should know 

thee the only true God, and lim whom thou didst 
send, even Jesus Christ.” 

Here our Lord Jesus does not hesitate to couple 
Himself with God the Father, and declare that the 
knowledge of Himself is as essential a part of “life 
eternal” as the knowledge of God the Father. If 
Jesus Christ were not Himself Divine, this is most 
appalling blasphemy. 

3. Now listen to the most amazing utterance of 
all: Jno. 14:1: (1 give the American Revision, which 
is more exact than the Authorized Version, though 
the thought that I am after is in the Authorized Ver- 
sion as truly as it is in the Revised Version. ) 

“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in 
God, believe also in me.” 

Here Jesus Christ demands that His disciples put 
exactly the same absolute faith in Him that they put 
in God the Father. Who then is He? Surely, He 
must be equal with God the Father, or else an appal- 
ling impostor and blasphemer, or else a_ pitiable 
lunatic. Which is He? Which is He? Thank God, 
I know He is “my Lord and my God”! Remember 
also that when Jesus unhesitatingly commanded His 
disciples to believe in Him with the same absolute 
faith with which they believed in God the Father, 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 31 


He did it in full recognition of the fact that God the 
Father Himself had said in Jeremiah, the Prophet, 
1 Tokai be eae fx 
“Thus saith Jehovah: Cursed is the man that 
trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and 
whose heart departeth from Jehovah. . . . Blessed 
is the man that trusteth in Jehovah, and whose 
trust Jehovah is.” 

If, then, Jesus was not Jehovah manifested in the 
flesh, “very God of very God,’ He demanded that the 
disciples should do that which would bring the curse 
of God upon their heads; but if he was Jehovah, then 
He simply commanded them to do that which would 
bring the blessing of Jehovah upon their heads. 

Remember also that this amazing and overwhelm- 
ing word of Christ Jesus, this daring claim of full 
equality with God the Father, is made in what most 
people regard as the most precious of all the precious 
chapters in the Bible, and you cannot give up your 
belief in the full Deity of Jesus Christ without giving 
up, not merely some unessential parts of the Bible, 
but you must give up the most precious chapter in 
the whole book, Jno. 14. 


VI. JESUS CHRIST MUST BE WORSHIPED BY 
ANGELS AND MEN. 


Just one more unanswerable line of proof that the 
Christ of the Bible is God. Jt 1s declared over and 
over again in the Bible that the Christ of the Buble, 
Christ Jesus, is a person to be worshiped. A few of 
the many passages that might be cited will suffice for 
our present purpose. 


32 THE ‘CHRIST (OF, THE: BIBER 


1. Weare told in the Gospels that Jesus Christ was 
worshiped when on earth. Turn, for example, to 
Matt. 14:33: 

“And they that were in the boat worshiped 
him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.” 

Some commentators, and even the margin of the 
“American Standard Version,’ seem to try to get 
around the force of this statement by saying (to quote 
the margin of the “American Standard Version’): 
“The Greek word denotes an act of reverence whether 
paid to a creature or to the Creator.” Now this state- 
ment is technically true, but it is altogether mislead- 
ing. It is used of worship paid to man and to creatures 
by idolaters, but it is not used in that way by wor- 
shipers of the true God. Indeed, Jesus Himself says, 
speaking in Matt. 4:9, 10: 

“And he said unto him, All these things will 
I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship 
me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, 
Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” 

And Jesus here uses exactly the same Greek word 
that we are told in the margin of “the American 
Standard Version,’ ‘‘denotes an act of reverence 
whether paid to the creature or to the Creator.” So 
Jesus says that the act described by this word should 
not be paid to anybody but to God only, and yet He 
permitted it to be paid to Himself. Strangely enough, 
the American Standard Version, in the margin of 
Matt. 4:9, 10, where Satan uses the word ‘“‘worship,” 
has the same marginal note that it has elsewhere 
(that is to say, that the word Satan uses “denotes an 


JHE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 33 


act of reverence whether paid to the creature, or to 
the Creator”), but when the Lord Jesus uses it and 
strictly forbids such worship to be paid to the crea- 
ture, they neglect to insert this marginal note. Were 
they asleep, or were they unwilling to hurt the feelings 
of some one who did not wish to believe in the Deity 
of our Lord Jesus? Why not be consistent and fair 
at any cost? It is amazing what fools real scholars 
can sometimes make of themselves when they attempt 
to be overwise or overgenerous to the enemy. 

BeNow tread: Jnd.+5:22;\ 23: 

“For neither doth the Father judge any man, 
but he hath given all judgment unto the Son; 
that all may honor the Son, even as they honor 
the Father.” 

These are the Christ’s own words and He here says 
that, Jt 1s God, the Father’s will that all men pay the 
same Divine honor to Him, the Son, as to Himself. 

3. Now turn to Heb. 1:6: 

“And when he again bringeth in the firstborn 
into the world he saith, And lez all the angels of 
God worship him.” 

Here we are told that, The Son of God, the Christ 
of God, is to be worshiped as God by all the angels 
as well as by men. Could anything be plainer than 
this? 

Some years ago in the after-meeting in our church 
in Chicago, I stepped up to an intelligent looking 
young man at the back part of the room, and said, 
“Are you a Christian?’ He replied, “I am not what 
I suppose you would call a Christian.”’ I said, “What 
kind of a Christian are you?’ He replied, “I am a 


34 THE CHRIST OF FEES B TB ISS 


Unitarian,”’ and named the church in Boston to which 
he belonged. I said to him, “Then, you do not be- 
lieve that Jesus Christ should be worshiped?” He 
said, “That is exactly what I believe, and my Pastor 
(and he named the pastor, a prominent Unitarian 
minister in Boston) has told me that there is no place 
in the Bible where we are told to worship Jesus 
Christ.” I said, ‘Let me read you a passage,” and 
I opened my Bible and read Heb. 1:6: 

“And when he again bringeth in the firstborn 
into the world he saith, And let all the angels 
of God worship him.” 

He said, “Does it say that?’ I said, “Take it and 
read it for yourself.” He took it and read. ‘‘Well,” 
he said, “my pastor told me there was no passage in 
the Bible where we are told to worship Jesus Christ.” 
And I said, “Does that passage tell you that Jesus 
Christ should be worshiped?” He replied, ‘Well, it 
certainly does.” There is no room for a moment’s 
doubt of that. 

4. Now, last of all, read Phil. 2: 9-11: 

“Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and 
gave unto him the name which is above every 
name; that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven and things on 
earth and things under the earth, and that every 
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, 
to the glory of God the Father.” 

This passage becomes all the more notable when 
we learn that it is, for the most part, a quotation from 
the Old Testament—lIsa. 45: 21-23. And in that pas- 
sage it is Jehovah who declares that to Him “every 


THE CHRIST OF ‘THE BIBLE 35 


knee shall bow” and “every tongue shall sware.” He 
says it directly after having said: 

“T, Jehovah? and there is no God else besides 
me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none be- 
sides me. . . . Unto me every knee shall bow, 
every tongue shall sware.” 

To sum up all that we have said: By the ascription 
of all of the distinctively divine attributes, by the 
use of many distinctively divine names, by the predi- 
cation of all the distinctively divine offices, by refer- 
ring statements which in the Old Testament distinctly 
name Jehovah, God, as their subject, to Jesus Christ 
in the New Testament, by coupling the name and 
person of Jesus Christ with that of God the Father, 
in a way in which it would be impossible for an in- 
telligent and reverent mind to couple those of any 
finite being with those of the Deity, and by the clear 
teaching that Jesus Christ should be worshiped even 
as God, the Father, is worshiped—in all these unmis- 
takable ways, God in His Word distinctly proclaims 
that the Christ, the only true Christ, Christ Jesus, is 
a Divine Being, is God. 

Bear in mind also that the Christ of the Old Testa- 
ment prophecy is as clearly and truly God as the Christ 
of New Testament history. 

Whoever then refuses to accept Jesus Christ as His 
Divine Saviour and Lord, is guilty of the enormous 
sin, the appalling sin, of rejecting God. Many a man 
thinks he is good because he never stole anything, or 
never murdered any one, or never cheated—‘‘Of what 
great sin am I guilty?” he complacently asks. I reply, 
“You are guilty of the awful sin, the damning sin of 


36 THE CHRIST, OF -THE BIBLE 


rejecting God.’ But suppose one questions or denies 
the Deity of Jesus Christ? That does not change the 
fact. No, not one particle. Nor does it lessen one 
particle of his guilt. Questioning or denying a fact 
never alters the fact. Suppose one should deny the 
goodness of a man, who, in actual fact, was the very 
soul of honor. It would not alter the fact that the 
man was the very soul of honor. It would simply 
make the questioner guilty of disgraceful and out- 
rageous slander. So denying the fact of the Deity 
of Jesus, the Christ, does not make His Deity any less 
a fact, but it does make the one denying that Deity 
guilty of awful, blasphemous slander. 

No imaginable sin that any one can commit against 
any human being can by any possibility be so great, 
so outrageous, and so damning as that of trying to rob 
this undeniably Divine and Infinite Person, Jesus 
Christ, of the absolute faith and whole-hearted wor- 
ship which are His rightful due. 


Char GEA 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: GOD, THE FATHER, IS 
GREATER THAN HIS SON, JESUS, WHO IS THE 
CHRIST OF GOD 


We saw in our first chapter that the Christ of the 
Bible, the Christ of Old Testament prophecy as well 
as the Christ of New Testament history, the Christ 
of actual fact, as distinguished from the Christ Whom 
many men fancy and preach, Christ Jesus, was a 
Divine Person possessed of all the distinctive and in- 
communicable attributes of Deity, all the attributes 
that God possesses, and that God alone possesses. We 
saw that Christ Jesus is our Lord and our God, and 
is to be believed in and obeyed and honored and wor- 
shiped, just as we believe in and obey and honor and 
worship God the Father. 


I. GOD, THE FATHER, GREATER THAN JESUS 
CHRIST THE’ SON, 


Now we shall look at the other side of the truth, a 
side that is clearly and frequently set forth in the Bible, 
namely, that God, the Father, is greater than Christ 
Jesus, the Son of God. So the subject of this chap- 
ter is, The Christ of the Bible: God the Father is 
greater than His Son Jesus, Who is the Christ of 
God. You will find our foundation text in the very 
plain and very explicit words of our Lord Jesus Him- 
self, in Jno. 14: 28: 

37 


38 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


“Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and 
I come unto you. If ye loved Me, ye would have 
rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the 
Father is greater than I.” 

Let me tarry a moment to say that the truth usually 
has at least two sides, and not infrequently those two 
sides seem at first to be flatly contradictory to one an- 
other, and yet they are both true. One of the many 
glories of the Bible is that it presents clearly both 
sides of the truth, it teaches not only the truth but the 
whole truth. That is one place where it differs to 
some extent at least from all man-made philosophies 
and theologies. Most men see only one side of the 
truth, and no man attains perfectly to the Bible per- 
fection of seeing all sides of the truth. So the Bible 
is always ahead of all of us, including the wisest and 
most far-seeing of us. This is peculiarly true when 
we come to that most profound and most unfathom- 
able of all subjects, the one infinite subject, God Him- 
self, His Person and Nature. On this infinite subject 
we shall continue to make new discoveries as long as 
we continue to live and think; but we shall never dis- 
cover anything that God has not already revealed in 
the Bible, only we have not seen it as yet. This is, of 
course, demonstrative proof that the Bible has God 
Himself and not man for its real Author. | 

Many see the great foundation truth about Christ 
that Jesus Christ, the Christ of the Bible, the only true 
Christ, is equal to the Father in His nature, in the 
perfection of His attributes, in His honor, and in His 
glory: and then some day they suddenly run upon a 
passage like that which we are now studying, and 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 30 


they are greatly puzzled, bewildered, dumbfounded, all 
at sea. “What!” they exclaim, “I thought Jesus Christ 
was God. I worshiped Him as my Lord and my God, 
and here He Himself says, ‘My Father is greater than 
I” AmTall wrong?’ No, you are quite right. Jesus 
Christ is equal to the Father in His nature, in Hts 
attributes, in His honor and authority and glory, but 
He is subordinate to the Father in His position, and 
also in His work. Do you ask me, “How can that 
be?” I reply that to my mind there is no difficulty 
here whatever, but even if I could not see the How of 
it, I would believe it because the Bible teaches it, and 
I have found conclusive proof that the Bible is the 
Word of God; and, furthermore, I believe many 
things of which I do not understand the How. In- 
deed, I understand the How of very few things I 
firmly believe. But what concerns me in every depart- 
ment of life and thought is the facts, and not the phi- 
losophy of the facts. I am glad that God made me a 
practical man and not a philosopher. I have indulged 
quite extensively in the study of philosophy, Greek 
philosophy, and German philosophy, and French, and 
Scotch, and English, and American philosophy. I 
have found great recreation in it, more even than | 
have found in reading Mark Twain or Dicken’s Pick- 
wick Papers, though I have read Pickwick Papers four 
or five times. I do not understand the philosophy of 
the radio. It is a great mystery to me how at this 
very moment, up in Oregon men and women can be 
picking my words out of the apparently silent air and 
hear me as clearly as you folks down there and up 
yonder in the gallery hear me, only a few feet or a 


40 DHE CHRIST OF THE. BIBLE 


few hundred feet away, and how also, at the same 
time, they could, if they wished, shift their key a little 
ways and no longer hear me, but hear the music or 
whatever it may be that is going over “the Examiner” 
radio, at this same time. I do not understand it. I 
do not much care to. It seems quite incredible to me; 
nevertheless I know it is a fact, and I rejoice that we 
did not wait until we understood the philosophy of it 
before we put this blessed broadcasting outfit into our 
auditorium. 


II. GOD THE FATHER BEGAT JESUS CHRIST 
THE SON. 


To return to our subject: in the second place, God 
The Father Begat Jesus Christ The Son. This truth 
we find in both the Old Testament and the New Testa- 
ment. To begin with the Old Testament, read Ps. 


Bere 


“T will tell of the decree: 
Jehovah said unto Me, Thou art My Son; 
This day have I begotten Thee.” 


This declaration that the coming Christ should be 
the Son of God the Father, is quoted in the New Testa- 
ment, in Heb, 1: 1-5: 

“God, having of old time spoken unto the 
fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in 
divers manners, hath at the end of these days 
spoken unto us in His Son, Whom He appointed 
Heir of all things, through Whom also He made 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 4I 


the worlds; Who being the effulgence of His 
glory, and the very Image of His substance, and 
upholding all things by the word of His power, 
when he had made purification of sins, sat down 
on the right hand of the Majesty on high; having 
become by so much better than the angels, as He 
hath inherited a more excellent name than they. 
For unto which of the angels said He at any time, 
Thou art My Son, 
This day have I begotten thee? 
and again, 
I will be to Him a Father, 
And He shall be to Me a Son?” 
The same important and fundamental truth is found 
in one of the best known verses in the Bible, Jno. 3: 16: 
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His 
Only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on 
Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” 
While we emphasize the truth that Jesus, the Christ 
of the Bible, the Only true Christ, is the Son of Gop, 
we should also emphasize the truth which the Bible 
emphasizes, that He is the SON of God. He is not 
the Father, He is the Son; and the Son is always 
subordinate to the Father. I have a sonin China. He 
is a fine son. I suspect that he is not only equal to 
his father but much better than his father in many 
ways. Nevertheless, he is the son and I am the father, 
and he never forgets it, and he does not fret at all 
about it. And God the Father is the Father; and 
Jesus, the Christ, is the Son; and while Jesus Christ 
is equal to the Father in attributes, He is subordinate 


42 THE CHRIST OF THEABIBEE 


to the Father in position, office and authority ; and He 
rejoiced in the fact, and constantly emphasized that 
fact while He was here on earth among men. 

The question may arise in some inquiring minds, 
Was Christ eternally the Son of God, or did He be- 
come the Son of God by becoming man and being 
born of the virgin? To this question the Bible an- 
swers in Jno, I: 1: 

“Tn the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God.” 

That is to say, it is as the Eternal Word that He 
is primarily set forth in His preexistent glory and not 
as the Eternal Son. And in Jno. 1:14, we read: 

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among 
us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only 
begotten from the Father), full of grace and 
truth.” 

That is to say, it is when the Word became flesh 
that we beheld His glory as the Only begotten Son. 
And in Ps, 2: 7, we read: 

“T will tell of the decree: 

Jehovah said unto Me, Thou art My Son; 

This day have I begotten Thee,” 

which plainly indicates a begetting and thus becoming 
the Son in time. And we are told in Luke 1: 35: 

“And the angel answered and said unto her, 
(that is unto the Virgin Mary) The Holy Spirit 
shall come upon thee, and the powers of the Most 
High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the 
holy thing which is begotten shall be called the 
Son of God,” 

which plainly tells us it was because He was conceived 


Jota CH nhs TsOh CHT BIBER 43 


by the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ was to “be called 
the Son of God.” 
But there is still another side to this truth also. 
This other side we read in Jno. 17:5: 
“And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine 
Own Self with the glory which I had with Thee 
before the world was,” 
which clearly implies that the Christ was the Son of 
the Father in the Eternity before the world was. And 
in Jno. 3: 16, we are told that: 
“God so loved the world, that He gave His 
Only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on 
Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” 
Here the words “He gave His Only begotten Son” 
clearly imply that the One He sent into the world 
. was already His Son. And in Jno. 17:24, we read: 
“Father, I desire that they also whom Thou 
hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they 
may behold My glory, which Thou hast given me: 
for Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the 
world.” 
These words seem to clearly set forth the love of the 
Eternal Father to the Eternal Son in the Eternity be- 
fore the world was. 


III. JESUS CHRIST LIVES BECAUSE OF HIS FATHER. 


In the third place, Jesus Christ lives because of the 
Father. We read in John 6:57: 
“As the living Father sent me, and J live be- 
cause of the Father.” 
While the Christ of the Bible is, as we saw last 


44 JHE: CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


Sunday, an Eternal Being, while He existed from all 
Eternity and will exist to all Eternity, His Eternal 
existence is a derived existence, eternally derived from 
the Father. Or, as His own words put it, He “lives 
because of the Father.” 


IV. THE SON CAN DO NOTHING INDEPENDENTLY 
OF THE FATHER. 


In the fourth place, The Son can do nothing inde- 
pendently of the Father. We read in John 5: 10: 
‘Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, 
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do 
nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father 
doing: for what things soever He doeth, these the 
Son also doeth in like manner.” 

The Christ of the Bible, the Son of God, is omnipo- 
tent, as we saw last Sunday. He can do all things; but 
He can do nothing independently of the Father. Our 
Lord Jesus Christ rejoiced in that fact. He gloried 
in it and recurred to it in one form or another again 
and again. 


V. JESUS CHRIST WAS SENT BY THE FATHER. 


In the fifth place, Jesus Christ was sent by the 
Father. Jesus Christ came into this world upon a 
wondrous mission. He came gladly, difficult as the 
mission was and demanding such amazing sacrifice on 
His part as it did; nevertheless He did not come pri- 
marily of His own volition, another sent Him. God, 
the Father, sent Him, and He replied to the Father’s 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 45 


commission, as we read in the Old Testament as well 
as the New Testament, Ps. 40:7, 8: 
“Lo, I am come; 
In the roll of the book it is written of Me: 
I delight to do Thy will, O My God.” 

In the New Testament, it reads in this way, Heb. 

10: 5-7: 
‘Wherefore when He cometh into the world, 
He saith, 
Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, 
But a body didst Thou prepare for Me; 
In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin 
Thou hadst no pleasure: 
Then said I, Lo, / am come 
(In the roll of the book it is written of Me) 
To do Thy will, O God.” 

I wish we might linger here a while, but we must 
pass on. But never forget that it was “God (the 
Father ),’’ Who “so loved the world, that He gave His 
Only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him 
should not perish, but have eternal life.” 


VI. JESUS CHRIST RECEIVED COMMANDMENT 
FROM THE FATHER. 


In the sixth place, Jesus Christ Recewed Com- 
mandment From The Father, i.e., He Was Under The 
Father’s Authority And Direction. Read Jno. 10:18: 

“No one taketh it (that is My life), away from 
Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power 
to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. 
This commandment received I from My Father.” 


46 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


While the laying down of His life was entirely volun- 
tary on our Lord’s part, while He joyfully “though 
He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we 
through His poverty might become rich,” nevertheless 
it was an act of voluntary obedience to a command- 
ment that originated in the will of Another, in the will 
of His Father. 


Vil. JESUS CHRIST RECEIVED HIS OWN AUTHORITY 
FROM THE FATHER. 


In the seventh place, Jesus Christ Received His Own 
Authority From His Father. This we read in Jno. 
Agia 

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all 
things into His hands, and that He came forth 
from God, and goeth unto God.” 

Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, has “all authority in 
heaven and on earth’”’ (Matt 28:18), but it is a dele- 
gated authority, an authority that has been “given 
unto” Him, an authority He has received from An- 
other, God the Father. As we read in Matt. 28:18: 

“All authority hath been given unto Me in 
heaven and on earth.” 

And we read in John 17:1, 2: 

“These things spake Jesus; and lifting up His 
eyes to heaven, He said, Father, the hour is come : 
glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee: 
even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, 
that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He should 
give eternal life.” 


THE/ CHRIST OF THE: BigiLe 47 


VIII. JESUS CHRIST RECEIVED HIS MESSAGE FROM 
THE FATHER. 


In the eighth place, Jesus Christ received His mes- 
sage from the Father. These are His Own Words 
found in Jno. 8: 26, 40: 

“I have many things to speak and to judge con- 
cerning you: howbeit He that sent Me is true; 
and the things which I heard from Him, these 
speak I unto the world. . . . But now ye seek to 
kill Me, a Man that hath told you the truth, which 
I heard from God: this did not Abraham.” 

Jesus Christ’s Message was a Divine message, every 
word of it was God’s Word, every word that the 
Christ of the Bible uttered was a Divine word, abso- 
lutely dependable and inerrant, but it did not originate 
with Him, it came from God the Father. He spoke 
only what He heard from the Father, as He declared 
in Jno. 7: 16: 

“Tesus therefore answered them, and said, My 
teaching is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” 


IX. THE FATHER GAVE JESUS CHRIST HIS WORKS 
TO ACCOMPLISH, AND IT WAS THE INDWELL- 
ING FATHER WHO DID THE WORKS. 


In the ninth place, The Father Gave Jesus Christ 
His Works To Accomplish, and It Was The Indwell- 
ing Father Who Did The Works. For example, we 
read in Jno. 5:36: 

“But the witness which I have is greater than 
that of John; for the works which the Father 
hath given Me to accomplish, the very works that 


48 THE‘ CHRIST: OF THE BIBLE 


I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath 
sent Me,” 
and many months later, on the night before the end 
of His earthly life, Jesus declared in Jno. 14: 10: 
“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and 
the Father in Me? the words that I say unto 
you I speak not from Myself : but the Father abid- 
ing in Me doeth His works.” 


X. JESUS CHRIST’S KINGDOM WAS APPOINTED 
UNTO HIM BY THE FATHER. 


In the tenth place, Jesus Christ’s Kingdom Was Ap- 
pointed Unto Him By God the Father. This we read 
in Luke 22: 29: 

“And I appoint unto you a kingdom, even as 
My Father appointed unto Me.” 

Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, has a kingdom, a king- 
dom so vast that only a Divine Person could properly 
administer it, but He did not achieve that kingdom for 
Himself, His Father gave it to Him. He will appoint 
a kingdom to us, but His Father appointed His king- 
dom to Him. 


XI. JESUS CHRIST SHALL ULTIMATELY DELIVER 
UP THE KINGDOM TO THE FATHER. 


In the eleventh place, Jesus Christ Shall Ultimately 
Deliver Up The Kingdom To The Father. This we 
are plainly told by the Holy Spirit, speaking through 
the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 15:24: 

“Then cometh the end, when He shall deliver 
up the kingdom to God, even the Father.” 


VHESCH RISTO OOR THE BIBLE 49 


Jesus Christ shall still reign; for we are told in 
ukeyr 33°: 

“And He shall reign over the house of Jacob 
for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no 
end.” 

He shall still reign, but He shall reign eternally in 
subordination to the Father. 


XII. JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF SHALL BE SUBJECTED 
TO THE FATHER THAT GOD MAY BE ALL AND 
IN ALL. 


In the twelfth place, Jesus Christ Shall Be Eternally 
Subjected To The Father, That God May Be All And 
In All. This also the Holy Spirit tells us through the 
Apostie Paul; in-r Cor. 15:27,28: 

“For, He put all things in subjection under His 
feet. But when He saith, All things are put in 
subjection, it is evident that He is excepted Who 
did subject all things unto Him. And when all 
things have been subjected unto Him, then shall 
the Son also Himself be subjected to Him that 
did subject all things unto Him, that God may be 
all in all.” 

Jesus Christ is not only now subordinated to the 
Father, and not only has He always been subordinated 
to the Father, but He also eternally shall be subordi- 
nated to God the Father. 


XIII. GOD, THE FATHER, IS THE HEAD OF 
JESUS CHRIST. 


In the thirteenth place, God, The Father, Is The 
Head Of Christ, As Christ Is The Head Of Every 


50 THE CHRISTOF: THE VBibigs 


Man, And As the Man Is Head Of the Woman. Turn 
to a most remarkable, and most instructive, and very 
suggestive passage, 1 Cor. 11:3: 

“But I would have you know, that the head of 
every man is Christ; and the head of the woman 
is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” 

Jesus Christ is possessed in all their perfection and 
fullness of all the glorious attributes of Deity, and yet 
He does not desire nor seek the Headship of the uni- 
verse. Satan sought the headship of the universe; 
Jesus Christ did not and does not. He rejoices that 
the Father is the head. 

How many foolish men, puffed up with a little 
knowledge that they possess, or fancy that they pos- 
sess, fret at the headship of Jesus Christ, they want 
to be head themselves; just as Satan did. They have 
fallen “into the condemnation of the devil’ and the 
snare of the devil (1 Tim. 3:6, 7), that is “into the 
condemnation” and “the snare’ into which Satan fell 
and thus fell from heights of glory to depths of 
shame. How many women in this wild, foolish day 
in which we are now living, fret at the headship of 
“the man.” Overconscious of their ability and of 
their unquestionable equality intellectually with men, 
they wish to assert their equality by claiming the head- 
ship, which God for His Own wise purposes has be- 
stowed on “‘the man,” and thus they too fall “into the 
snare of the Devil,” that is the snare into which Satan 
fell. Every woman-headed religious organization com- 
posed of both men and women sooner or later goes 
to smash. Yes, I say it solemnly, not profanely nor 
flippantly, it goes to “the Devil,” in whose spirit it 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 51 


originated. Let us all, both men and women, learn 
humility and to rejoice in our God-given position of 
subordination from Him we acknowledge as Head, 
Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who, notwithstanding all His 
equality with the Father, gladly recognizes God the 
Father as the Head. 


XIV. MEN DRAW NEAR UNTO GOD THROUGH 
GHRIST: 


In the fourteenth place, Men Draw Near Unto God 
Through Christ. God, Not Christ, Is The Ultimate 
Goal. This, we are told in a passage that few of us 
have pondered as we ought. Heb. 7:25: 

“Wherefore also He is able to save to the 
uttermost them that draw near unto God through 
Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession 
for them.” 

I shall never forget a day in which I heard Andrew 
Murray at Northfield many years ago expound this 
verse, Heb. 7:25, and dwell upon the fact that, while 
it was through Christ alone we could draw near unto 
God, it was not to Christ Himself, but to God the 
Father, we drew near. I knew this before. Indeed I 
am not sure that I had not already written my book, 
“What The Bible Teaches,” in which I somewhat em- 
phasized this; but it gained a new meaning for me that 
day. Oh! so many of us are so entirely taken up with 
Jesus Christ, the Son, that we lose sight of the great 
truth that He is “the way” not to Himself, but to the 
Father. WE NEED TO KNOW OUR FATHER 
GOD. In the experience of many twentieth century 


52 PHE CHRIST ORS Hii Bie its 


Christians, Jesus, the Only begotten Son of God, 
Whose work it is to “reveal THE FATHER” (Jno. 
1:18), has become so much to us that the Father, 
Whom He desires to reveal, has become practically 
nothing. He Himself, while He declared that he was, 
“The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” declared, with 
equal clearness and with even more emphasis, that He 
was the way to some one else, “to the Father.” His 
words are, as found in Jno. 14:6: 

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no 
one cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” 

The Father, not the Son, is the ultimate goal. 

Listen again to Heb. 7:25: 

“Wherefore also He is able to save to the 
uttermost them that draw near UNTO GOD 
through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make in- 
tercession for them.” 

It is to the Father I go. I go to the Father through 
the Son, but I do not stop at the Son, Who is “the 
Way,’ I press on unto the Father, unto Whom He is 
the Way, | “draw near unto God through Him.” 


XV. GOD, THE FATHER, IS JESUS CHRIST’S GOD. 


Finally, God The Father Is Jesus Christ’s God. 
Jesus Christ’s words about this are very plain and very 
explicit. You will find them in Jno. 20:17: 

“Jesus said to her, Touch Me not; for I am 
not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto My 
brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My 
Father and your Father, and My God and your 
God.” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 53 


Remember that these words were spoken by our 
Lord even after His resurrection. Jesus Christ is 
“Lord and God” to us, but God, the Father, is Father 
and God to Him. Listen to His words again: 

“T ascend unto My Father and your Father, and 
My God and your God.” 

To sum up all we have seen in this chapter concern- 
ing the Christ presented to us in the Bible, Jesus Christ 
Is, And Eternally Shall Be, Subordinate To God, The 
Father. In God, The Father, we have the Source 
of Deity; In Jesus Christ, Deity in Its Outflow. But 
in the Stream Is all the Perfection of the Fountain. 
To use Paul’s words, “In Him dwelleth all the full- 
ness of the Godhead bodily.” (Col. 2:9.) 

It has been said that this conception, that in God the 
Father we have the Source of Deity but in Jesus Christ 
we have Deity in its outflow, is Sabellianism; but it is 
not, if we bear constantly in mind that God the Father, 
the Source of Deity, is a Person, and that Jesus Christ, 
the Son, the perfect Stream that flows from the 
Father, is also a definite and distinct Person. 

What a marvelous and many-sided conception of the 
Christ it is that is given to us in this old, old Book, 
the Bible, and in the whole Book; not only in the 
books written after Christ came but also in the pas- 
sages written a thousand years before He came, which 
looked forward to Him. Whence did David, and 
Isaiah, and Micah, and John, and Paul get their won- 
drously profcund and wondrously unified conceptions 
of the Christ, conceptions that we, after eighteen hun- 
dred, yes, even after twenty-eight hundred years, have 
not even yet fully fathomed? There can be but one 


54 THE: CHRIST OF THE: BIBLE 


reasonable or even fairly intelligent answer to that 
question: beyond a doubt they got their conceptions of 
the Christ, and the very words in which those concep- 
tions are phrased, from God Himself. 

Let us ponder these God-given words and behold 
the real Christ, the Christ of actual fact, and wonder, 
and admire and love and worship Him, and through 
Him press on to the Father that He, God, The Father, 
“may be all and in all.”’ 


CHAPTER III 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: WAS CHRIST JESUS IN 
EVERY RESPECT A REAL MAN, OR DID HE ONLY 
SEEM TO BE A MAN? 


In this chapter we shall consider the question, The 
Christ of the Bible: Was Christ Jesus in every respect 
a Real Man? or did He only seem to be a Man? 

We saw in our first chapter that the Christ of the 
Bible, Christ Jesus, the only real Christ, possessed, in 
all their perfection and fullness, all the distinctive and 
incommunicable attributes of Deity, that is, all the 
attributes that God possesses, and that God alone pos- 
sesses, that “in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the 
Godhead bodily,” and that all the distinctively Divine 
offices were also ascribed to Him, that He was equal 
to God, the Father, in Nature, Attributes, Authority, 
and Glory, that He is a Being to be worshiped even as 
God the Father is worshiped, that He is our Lord, and 
our God. 

We saw in our second chapter that while Jesus pos- 
sessed all the distinctive and incommunicable Attri- 
butes of Deity in all their perfection and fullness, that 
while He was equal to God the Father in His Nature, 
Attributes, Authority, and Glory, that He was, at the 
same time, and always had been, and always shall be, 
subordinate to the Father in position and office. 

We shall now consider the question, Was He, when 

55 


56 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


on earth, at the same time that He was God also, a 
Real Man? and is He now a Real Man, up yonder in 
the Glory? 

Let us look at three passages in the Bible. 

Oona ROK. Mia 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
was with God, and the Word was God... . 
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among 
us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only 
begotten from the Father), full of grace and 
truth.” 

Eno 4 t-3¢ 

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove 
the spirits, whether they are of God; because many 
false prophets are gone out into the world. 
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit 
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the 
flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth 
not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of 
the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it com- 
eth; and now it is in the world already.” 

Ligh irii.y2 tan 

“For there is One God, One Mediator also 
between God and men, Himself Man, Christ 
Jesus.” 

These remarkably plain and explicit’ passages of 
Scripture not only declare that Jesus, the Christ of the 
Bible, was a Real Man, but they declare also that 
the denial of the Reality of His Human Nature is one 
of the most fundamental of all errors, that the denial 
that He was a Real Man, the denial that Jesus Christ 
came in the flesh, is one of the distinctive marks of the 


THEI CHRIST OF THE: BIBLE 57 


antichrist. The man who denies the Real Deity and 
Full Deity of Jesus Christ is fundamentally wrong: 
the one who denies that Jesus Christ was a Real Man 
at the same time that He was very God, is equally 
wrong. To deny that Jesus Christ was in every re- 
spect a Real Man is as much a “damnable heresy,” as 
to deny that He was Real God. 

The denial of the real Humanity of Jesus Christ 
was one of the first heresies that arose in the church, 
and it did great harm. It was taught that Jesus, the 
Christ, was only apparently Man, that He only seemed 
to be a Man. This heresy was called “Docetism,” 
which name is derived from a Greek word meaning, 
“to seem to be.” This error arose during the life- 
_ time of the Apostle John. The Apostle John regarded 
this error with great horror, and it was sternly de- 
nounced by him. His first Epistle was largely aimed 
at this very heresy. Christian Science is largely a re. 
vamping of the same heresy. But Christian Science is 
not the only modern system that denies, or loses sight 
of, the Reality of the Human Nature of Jesus Christ. 
Many people who consider themselves as extremely and 
preeminently orthodox, are so entirely taken up with 
the glorious fact that our Lord Jesus was and is God, 
that they entirely lose sight of the other glorious truth 
that at the same time our Saviour was and is God, 
He is also in the fullest sense, our Brother, as truly 
a Human Being as you or I are, and that now up in 
the glory at the right hand of God the Father there 
is a Man, “the Man, Christ Jesus.” 

When Stephen’s eyes were opened just before he 
himself entered the glory, he cried, “Behold, I see 


58 EE CTUR TS Pv) Se es bob 


the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on 
the right hand of God.” (Acts 7: 56.) 

It was in part the one-sided emphasis laid upon the 
Deity of Jesus Christ, and the forgetting of the fact 
that He was at the same time a Real Man, that led 
to the forming of that exceedingly pernicious system 
known as Modern Unitarianism. Modern Unitarian- 
ism stood for a truth, an exceedingly important truth, 
the truth of the Real Humanity of Jesus Christ, of 
which many had lost sight; but it, in turn, lost sight of 
the other exceedingly important truth, that Jesus Christ 
was also Real God. 

We have already seen that the doctrine of the real 
Deity of the Christ is found in the Old Testament as — 
well as in the New Testament: we shall see to-day that 
on the other hand, the New Testament is full of the 
doctrine that Jesus, the historic Christ, the Christ of 
God, was and is a Real Man in every respect. 


I. HUMAN NAMES ARE USED IN SPEAKING OF 
THE CHRIST. 


To come right to our subject: in the first place, 
FHluman Names are used in speaking of the Christ. 
We saw in our first chapter that sixteen or more 
Names that clearly imply Deity are used of Jesus 
Christ, over and over again in the Bible, in both the 
Old Testament and the New Testament, that, for 
example, He was called “God,” and ‘‘God Blessed For- 
ever,” and “Mighty God”; but it is equally true that 
Names that clearly imply that He was and is Man, 
are also used of Him. Take for example 1 Tim 2:5: 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 59 


“For there is One God, One Mediator also 
between God and men, Himself Man, Christ 
Jesus.” 

The late Pastor Russell taught among his many 
errors, that Jesus Christ before He became incarnate, 
was a purely Spiritual Being, that during His life upon 
earth He was a purely Human Being, and that now 
since His resurrection He is a purely Divine Being. 
But Stephen said, when the wondrous vision of the 
Christ in the glory was granted him just before his 
own entrance into glory, “Behold, I see the heavens 
opened, and the Son of man standing on the right 
hand of God.” Jesus Christ is called in the Bible the 
“Son of man” no less than seventy-seven times. It is 
a significant number. 


II. THE CHRIST HAD A HUMAN PHYSICAL NATURE. 


In the second place, The Christ of the Bible, Jesus 
Christ, had a Human Physical. Nature. He was a 
Real Man as far as His Body was concerned. We see 
this in Jno. 1:14: 

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among 
us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the 
Only begotten from the Father), full of grace 
and truth.” 

We see the same thing again in Heb. 2: 14: 

“Since then the children are sharers in flesh 
and blood, He also Himself in like manner par- 
took of the same; that through death He might 
bring to nought him that had the power of death, 
that is, the Devil.” 


60 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


Here we are told that He Who from all eternity was 
“the effulgence of (God’s) glory, and the very Image 
of His substance,’ and Who upheld “all things by 
the word of His power” (see Heb. 1:3), when He 
became incarnate in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, 
the Christ of the Bible, “partook of flesh and blood.” 
His body then was a Real Body, as real a Human 
Body as yours or mine. 

The denial of the Reality of Christ’s Human Body 
is a distinctive mark of the antichrist. This we are 
told in so many words in I Jno. 4: 1-3: 

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove 
the spirits, whether they are of God; because 
many false prophets are gone out into the world. 
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit 
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come im the 
flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth 
not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of 
the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it com- 
eth; and now it is in the world already.” 

The denial of the reality of all bodies and all matter, 
and so of necessity the denial of the Reality of Christ’s 
Body, the assertion that all bodies and all matter are 
only “illusion,” or “mortal thought,’ is one of the 
most fundamental and most damning errors of Chris- 
tian Science. It unmistakably marks Christian Science 
as being of the antichrist. 


III. JESUS CHRIST HAD A HUMAN PARENTAGE. 


In the third place, Jesus ‘Christ had a human 
parentage. 


Chto OE Lisi, 61 


head bukes2 <7: 

“And she brought forth her firstborn Son; and 
she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid 
Him in a manger, because there was no room for 
them in the inn.” 

Here we are told that Jesus, the Christ of God, was 
Mary’s Son, “her firstborn Son.” 

Turn now to Acts 2: 30, 31: 

“Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that 
God had sworn with an oath to him, (that is to 
David) that of the fruit of his loins He would 
set One upon His throne; he foreseeing this spake 
of the resurrection of the Christ.” 

Here we are distinctly told that the Christ Who was 
_to be raised, was the fruit of David’s loins. 

Read also Rom. 1:3, 4: 

“Concerning His Son, Who was born of the 
seed of David according to the flesh, Who was de- 
clared to be the Son of God with power, accord- 
ing to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection 
from the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord.” 

Here we are told that “Jesus Christ our Lord,” was 
“of the seed of David,” “according to the flesh.” 

Turn now to Gal. 4:4: 

“But when the fulness of the time came, God 
sent forth His Son, born of a woman.” 

Here we are distinctly told that the Son of God, 
the Christ Whom God sent forth, was “born of a 
woman.” Note in passing, that it does not say, born 
of a man. It is oftentimes said by those who deny 
the Virgin Birth of our Lord Jesus that Paul knew 
nothing of it. Those who so say are not thereby 


62 THE! CHRIST (OF THE BIBLE 


demonstrating their learning, but exposing their igno- 
rance, 

Turn now to Luke 1:35: 

“And the angel answered and said unto her, 
The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the 
power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: 
wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten 
shall be called the Son of God.” 

This passage clearly declares that the Son of God, 
the Christ of God, was begotten of a woman, of the 
Virgin Mary. It is as plain as day then, that the 
Christ of God had a human parentage and a human 
ancestry. He was Mary’s Son and David’s Seed, He 
“sprang out of Judah’ (Heb. 7:14). The Virgin 
Mary was as truly the mother of Jesus, the Christ 
of God, as God was His Father. Our Saviour de- 
rived His Human Nature from Mary as truly as He 
derived His Divine Nature from God. This was the 
process by which the Eternal Word, which from all 
eternity “was with God and was God” (Jno. 1:1), 
“became flesh” (Jno. 1:14) in the Person of Jesus of 
Nazareth, the Real Christ, the Christ of the Bible, 
the Only True Christ. (Compare Luke 1:35 and Jno. 
WR HAVA La 


IV. THE CHRIST, AS A MAN, HAD HUMAN 
PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS. 


In the fourth place, The Christ, as a Man, had 
human physical limitations. 
I, Read Jno. 4:6: 
“And Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, 


THE CHRIST OF (THE BIBLE 63 


being wearied with His journey, sat thus by the 
well.” 

Here we are told that Jesus was weary. It cer- 
tainly was not as God that He was weary; for we are 
told in Isa. 40: 28: 

“Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? 
The Everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the 
ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary.” 

But, as a Man, Jesus, the Christ, our Lord and 
Saviour, was weary. Our Lord and Saviour knew 
what it meant to be truly weary, completely tired out 
physically, as really as any of us do. I am so glad 
He did. 

2. Now turn to Matt. 8:24: 

“And behold, there arose a great tempest in the 
sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the 
waves: but He was asleep.” 

Here we are told that Jesus Christ slept. It cer- 
tainly was not as God that He slept; for we are told 
lah sn T21i4)5.: 

“Behold, He that keepeth Israel 
Will neither slumber nor sleep. 
Jehovah is thy Keeper: 
Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand.” 

3. Now, read Matt. 21:18: 

“Now in the morning as He returned to the 
city, He hungered.” 

Here we are told that Jesus Christ hungered. 

4. Read also Jno. 19: 28: 

“After this Jesus, knowing that all things are 
now finished, that the Scripture might be accom- 
plished, saith, I thirst.” 


64 THE CHRIST OF THE (BIBLE 


Jesus Christ thirsted. 

5. Turn now to Luke 22: 44: 

“And being in an agony He prayed more ear- 
nestly; and His sweat became as it were great 
drops of blood falling down upon the ground.” 

Here we are told that, Jesus, the Christ of God, se 
fered intense physical agony. 

6. Just one more passage on this particular point. 
Read GCor 163. 

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which 
also I received: that Christ died for our sins ac- 
cording to the Scriptures.” 

Here is the plain statement that Jesus Christ died. 
Some one will ask, Was it the Human Nature of Christ 
that died or the Divine Nature of Christ that died? 
Neither One nor the Other. It was not a Nature that 
died: it was a Person Who died: it was Jesus Christ 
Himself that died; and He was both God and Man. 
Paul tells us that it was the “Lord of Glory” that was 
“crucified” (1 Cor. 2:8), the One Who was at the 
same time God and Man. 

If Jesus Christ had not been God He could not by 
His death have made a sufficient atonement to atone 
for the whole human race. If, on the other hand, 
He had not been at the same time Man, He could not 
have died as the representative of man, ‘“‘the Second 
Adam.” Only He Who was at the same time Son of 
God and Son of Man, at the same time really Divine 
and really human, could make an atonement that would 
be both sufficient and applicable to us; but as He was 
at the same time “very God of very God” and real 
man, He could and He did. 


Le CHRIS OD GT Hh BIBLE, 65 


How wondrously profound, and consistent, and com- 
plete, and beyond all human philosophy is the philoso- 
phy of the Bible, when you take it all in. But if you 
leave any part out (for example, leave out either the 
Real Deity or the Real Humanity of Jesus Christ) and 
the whole system crumbles to the ground. 


V. THE CHRIST, AS A MAN, WAS SUBJECT TO HUMAN 
INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL LIMITATIONS. 


In the fifth place, The Christ, as a Man, was subject 
to human intellectual and moral limitations. 

r. Read Duke 2:52: 

“And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, 
and in favour with God and man.” 

Here we are definitely told that Jesus Christ (as a 
Man, during His childhood), “advancd in wisdom and 
in stature, and in favour with God and man.” As He 
advanced from one state of wisdom to a higher state 
of wisdom, there must, of course, have been a time 
of comparative limitation in His wisdom. As a man 
Hle was subject to human conditions of physical, 
mental, and moral growth. 

2. Now read Mark 13: 32: 

“But of that day or that hour knoweth no one, 
not even the angels in heaven, neither the Son, 
but the Father.” 

Here we are told that Jesus Christ, as a Man, set- 
ting you and me a very solemn example to follow in 
His steps, gave up the knowledge of the exact time of 
His own return. This fact does not at all cast a cloud 
either upon His Deity or upon the reliability and in- 


66 THE CHRIST OF THE BISLE 


errancy of anything He taught; for He Himself dis- 
tinctly declared that every word He taught was the 
Father's teaching, and not His Own. 

For example He says in Jno. 7: 16: 

“My teaching is not Mine, but His that sent 
Me.” 

And He says in John 12: 49, 50: 

“For I spake not from Myself; but the Father 
That sent Me, He hath given Me a command- 
ment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 
And I know that His commandment is life eternal: 
the things therefore which I speak, even as the 
Father hath said unto Me, so I speak.” 

And in Jno. 14: 10, he says: 

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and 
the Father in Me? the words that I say unto you 
I speak not from Myself: but the Father abiding 
in Me doeth His works.” 

And in the twenty-fourth verse of the same chapter, 
He says: 

‘He that loveth Me not keepeth not My Words: 
and the Word which ye hear is not Mine, but the 
Father's Who sent Me.” 

And in Jno. 17:8, in one of the most solemn mo- 
ments of His life, talking not to man, but to God 
Himself on the night before the crucifixion, Jesus, the 
Christ, says: 

“For the words which Thou gavest Me I have 
given unto them; and they received them.” 

The “Higher Critics” and the “New Theology” ad- 
vocates, in their intense desire (which amounts almost 
to an obsession) to get around our Lord’s endorse- 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 67 


ment of the whole Old Testament as the inerrant Word 
of God, try to make out that in becoming a Man, “He 
emptied Himself” of His Omniscience, and that there- 
fore He was liable to error, and that He was in error 
on this point. To sustain their point they urge Phil. 
2:5-8: 
“Have this mind in you, which was also in 
Christ Jesus: Who, existing in the form of God, 
counted not the being on an equality with God a 
thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking 
the form of a servant, being made in the likeness 
of men; and being found in fashion as a Man, He 
humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto 
death, yea, the death of the cross.” 

And they lay the emphasis upon the words, “emptied 
Himself,’ interpreting them to mean that He emptied 
Himself of His Divine Attributes, including His 
Omniscience, and that therefore He might be mistaken 
in some of His teachings. But any one who will look 
carefully at these words in their context, and with a 
sincere desire to discover what they really teach, and 
not to merely read into them what we would like to 
have them teach, will see at once that these words 
speak of our Lord emptying Himself, not of Hts 
Divine Attributes, including His omisctence, but of 
His Divine glory. 

Furthermore, even if they did teach that He emp- 
tied Himself of His omniscience, that would not at all 
help the enemy, for He distinctly declares in the pas- 
sages that I have read you, that every word He spoke 
was not His, but the Father's, and, therefore, 1f every 
word He spoke was not His Fathers, and conse- 


68 THE CHRISTHOP RIE BIBER 


quently the inerrant Word of God, Jesus Christ was 
not only a Man, but He was a liar and a fraud. Who 
can believe that? I have a profound pity for any one 
who can. 

3. Now read Heb. 4:15: 

“For we have not an high priest that cannot 
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; 
but One that hath been in all points tempted lke 
as we are, yet without sin.” 

Read also Heb. 2:18: 

“For in that He Himself hath suffered being 
tempted, He is able to succor them that are 
tempted.” 

In these two passages we are plainly and definitely 
told that Jesus Christ was tempted. It certainly was 
not as God that He was tempted, for we read in 
AEA tote Bete 

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am 
tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with 
evil, and He Himself tempteth no man.” 

Oh, I rejoice that my Saviour, the Lord Jesus, is 
God, the God Who created all things and Who still 
“upholds all things by the Word of His power,” (Heb. 
1:3), but I also rejoice that He was Man, Real Man, 
and was tempted “in all points’ like as I am, and so 
He can be not only my mighty Saviour but also my 
sympathizing Saviour. 

Note very carefully the fact that He was tempted 
“without sin,” or more exactly translated, “apart from 
sin,” entirely apart and separate from any trace of sin. 
There was no response in the heart of Jesus to yield 
for one moment to that which was wrong. Though 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 69 


He was, for example, suffering the intensest pangs of 
hunger in one instance, and in another recoiled from 
death as no other man ever recoiled from death, for 
He was the “Prince of Light,” not for one moment did 
He contemplate satisfying His hunger in a wrong way, 
and not for one moment did He turn back from the 
cross and its appalling and immeasurable agonies. 

The question is often asked, could Jesus have yielded 
to temptation, could He have sinned? He could not— 
because He would not. He could not sin because even 
as a man He was perfectly holy, and sinning in thought 
or desire or word or act was a moral impossibility to 
Him. But the constraint that kept Him from sinning 
was not from without but from within, from His Own 
perfectly holy heart. 


VI. THE CHRIST, AS A MAN, WAS SUBJECT TO 
LIMITATIONS OF POWER. 


In the sixth place, Jesus Christ, as a man, was subject 
to limitations of power. We saw in the first chapter 
that He was omnipotent. Nevertheless as Man he was 
subject to limitations of power. This appears again 
and again in the New Testament. 

Wevheadiheb5 37: 

“Who in the days of His flesh, having offered 
up prayers and supplications with strong crying 
and tears unto Him that was able to save Him 
from death, and having been heard for His godly 
fear.” 

Here we are told that Jesus Christ obtained deliver- 
ance from death, not by the exercise of His Own AIl- 
mighty power, but by prayer. No less than twenty-five 


70 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


times in the four short gospel records of the life here 
upon earth of our Lord, the Christ of God, is His pray- 
ing mentioned. Jesus Christ lived His life here on 
earth as a Man, obtaining power for His work and for 
His moral victories and achievements as other men 
obtain theirs, by prayer. As a Man He was subject to 
human conditions for obtaining what He desired. 

2. Furthermore, As a Man, Jesus Christ obtained 
power for His Divine works, not by His inherent 
Deity, but by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He was 
subject to the same conditions for obtaining and exer- 
cising power as other men. This we are distinctly and 
explicitly told in Acts 10: 38: 

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 
Ghost and with power: Who went about doing 
good, and healing all that were oppressed of the 
Devil; for God was with Him.” 


VII. JESUS CHRIST SUSTAINED THE RELATIONSHIP 
OF MAN TO GOD, THE FATHER. 


In the seventh place, Jesus Christ sustained the rela- 
tionship of Man to God, the Father. This we are told 
in Jno. 20:17: 

“Jesus saith to her, Touch Me not; for I am not 
yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto My 
brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My 
Father and your Father, and My God and your 
God.” 

Here Jesus Christ, though He had not hesitated to 
say that all men should honor Him “even as they 
honored the Father” (Jno. 5: 22, 23), and that he that 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 71 


had seen Him had seen the Father (Jno. 14:9), and 
though a week later when Thomas fell at His feet, and 
addressed Him as, “My Lord, and my God,” He would 
unhesitatingly and approvingly accept this ascription of 
Deity to Himself (Jno. 20: 26-28), nevertheless here 
He equally unhesitatingly calls God “My God.” It is 
evident then that He bore the relation of Man to God, 
the Father. 


VIII. JESUS CHRIST, AS A MAN, WAS IN EVERY 
RESPECT A REAL MAN. 


Finally, Jesus Christ, as a Man, was in every respect 
a Real Man. This we are told in the epistle to the He- 
brews, a book that emphasizes the full Deity of the 
Christ as almost no other book in the Bible. 

Read sep y2 sa 7° 

“Wherefore it behooved Him in all things to be 
made like unto His brethren, that He might be- 
come a merciful and faithful High Priest in things 
pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the 
sins of the people.” 

Here we are definitely told that Jesus Christ, as a 
Man, was made “in all things’ like unto Hts brethren, 
subject to all the physical, mental, and moral condt- 
tions of existence essential to human nature. 

To sum up all that we have discovered from a careful 
and candid study of the Bible on this subject: Just as 
Jesus Christ, as God, was in all points like unto the 
Father, so also, as Man, He was in all points like unto 
us. 

Now comes the question, a question that presents the 


VL THE CHRIST ORV PE B iaiats 


greatest difficulty of any question concerning the Per- 
son and Nature of Jesus Christ, How can we reconcile 
the Bible Doctrine of the True Deity of Jesus Christ 
with this other Bible Doctrine of the Real Human Na- 
ture of Jesus Christ? 

The answer to this question that appears so difficult 
is really easy. The answer is this: Our main business 
is not to reconcile any two lines of truth, no matter how 
absolutely opposed to one another and contradictory 
to one another they may seem to us to be. Our chief 
business is to find out exactly what the various passages 
in the Bible mean, in their natural, grammatical inter- 
pretation. Then if we can reconcile them, well and 
good. If not, believe them both and leave the recon- 
ciliation to increasing knowledge. It is a thoroughly 
vicious principle of Biblical interpretation that we must 
interpret every passage in the Bible so that we can 
easily reconcile it with every other passage. It is this 
foolish principle of interpretation that gives rise to the 
one-sided theology in which narrow minded men revel. 
One man becomes a one-sided Calvinist and another 
a one-sided Arminian; and so on through the whole 
gamut of Christian Doctrine. Our business is to find 
out the plainly intended sense of the passage in hand as 
determined by the usage of the words found in it, by the 
grammatical construction and by the context. 

Furthermore, we should always bear in mind that in 
many cases two truths that once seemed to us to be 
utterly irreconcilable or even to be flatly contradictory 
to one another, are now, with increased knowledge, 
seen to beautifully harmonize. So, it is only reason- 
able to suppose that truths that still seem to us to be 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 73 


contradictory, perfectly harmonize in the infinite mind 
of God, and will some day perfectly harmonize in our 
minds also, when we approach more nearly to God’s 
omniscience. 

As I said in a previous chapter, I cannot understand 
the radio. What I know to be facts concerning it ap- 
pear to me to be absolutely impossible and inconceiv- 
able. I have been told this last week that last Sunday a 
woman in Keene, New Hampshire, more than three 
thousand miles away, heard me last Sunday and even 
recognized my voice. What perfectly reliable wit- 
nesses tell me about what the radio does, appears to me 
to be absurd and impossible; but I believe it none the 
less. Indeed, I know it is true. To me it is a great 
mystery, an unsolvable mystery, and no one else really 
understands it, however much they may pretend to. 
Question them, and you will soon drive them up 
against a wall that they cannot go through or go over, 
and their attempted explanations are words, words, 
words—only words, that is all. But, I believe in the 
radio just the same. But, we cannot understand it, it is 
full of mystery to us, it is intellectually inconceivable ; 
but we believe it just the same, because the evidence of 
what it does is conclusive and overwhelming. We 
would be mentally stupid and not “scientific” but utterly 
and ludicrously unscientific if we did not. We might 
boast that we were possessed of “the modern mind” 
and therefore could not believe anything we could not 
understand, but we would really be possessed of a pre- 
historic and unscientific mind. And just so, I believe in 
the full Deity of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
and at the same time I believe in His Real Humanity. 


74 THE CHRIST) OF ME HE? BIB DE 


I have a Christ and a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
who 1s unquestionably God. He made the heavens and 
the earth, and upholds the earth and moon and sun and 
the stupendous stars “by the Word of His Power’ 
(Heb. 1:3). Oh, I am so glad, so unutterably glad, 
that He does, and that such an One, possessed of all 
the attributes of Deity in all their perfection and full- 
ness, is my Saviour. But I rejoice also that I have a 
Christ and a Saviour, Who, in the fullest and most real 
sense, 1s my Brother, a Fellow Man, a Real Man, Who 
lived His life here upon earth under the same condi- 
tions under which I live mine, subject to the same 
temptations that I am, yet absolutely “apart from sin,” 
that He obtained victory by the power of the same Holy 
Spirit that 1s ready to help me as well, and that He 
obtained strength to work, to achieve, and to conquer 
in the same way that is open to me, by prayer. 

That was the thing about Unitarianism, the Unita- 
rianism of Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, and 
Edward Everett Hale, that attracted me, namely, that 
Jesus Christ was my Brother, a Real Man, tempted in 
all points as I was, and that if He got the victory I 
could too, the same way He did. But the day came 
when I discovered that historic orthodoxy, the ortho- 
doxy of the Bible properly understood, as stated in the 
standard creeds of the church, presented the same truth, 
and presented it even more fully than Unitarianism, 
and that, together with this precious truth that Unita- 
rianism presented, it presented the other side of the 
truth, even more precious, a side to which Unitarianism 
was totally blind, that while Jesus Christ was in every 
respect a Real Man, He was also in every respect Real 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 7° 


God; that while the “Word became flesh and dwelt 
among us,” that the Word Who so became flesh “‘was”’ 
“in the beginning and was with God, and was God.” 

Where, in all the philosophers and sages of all lands 
and all ages, do we find a philosophy so profound, so 
well rounded, so complete, so symmetrical and in every 
way so satisfying and so wonderful as is contained in 
this Old, Old Book, whose utterances are from eighteen 
hundred and twenty-eight to thirty-four hundred and 
twenty-five years old? Where did the Bible writers, 
kings and peasants, fishermen and petty politicians, 
herdmen and whatnot, learn this matchless, this 1mper- 
ishable, this one and only perfect and absolute philoso- 
phy? There can be but one rational answer to that 
question, only one answer that has the slightest sem- 
blance of candor or of intelligence: they learned it 
from God, both the philosophy and the phrasing of it. 
Beyond an honest peradventure, these “men spake from 
God, being carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 
B21): 


Note—At this point we would naturally and logically 
take up The Earthly Life of the Christ of the Bible; 
but I have already done this in my book THE REAL 
Curist (published by George H. Doran Company, 
1920), so we shall not repeat here. 


CHAPTER IV 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: HIS DEATH; HOW AND 
WHY HE DIED, AND THE RESULTS OF HIS DEATH 


Our subject in this Chapter is, The Christ of the 
Bible: His Death, How and Why He Died, and the Re- 
sults of His death. 

One of the most fundamental facts regarding the 
Christ set before us in the Bible is the fact of His 
Death, and one of the most outstanding points at 
which the Christ of the Bible is most clearly seen to 
be an entirely different Christ from the Christ of many 
of our modern romancers and poets and sociologists 
and moralists and popular preachers and even of many 
of our “modern” theologians, theologians sometimes in 
supposedly orthodox seminaries, is in regard to the 
manner, the purpose and the results of His Death. 

Consider fourteen passages from the Word of God. 

1 Cor. 15: 1-4: 

“Now I make known unto you, brethren, the 
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye 
received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye 
are saved, if ye hold fast the Word which I 
preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. For 
I delivered unto you first of all that which also I 
received: that Christ died for our sins according 
to the scriptures; and that He was buried; and that 
He hath been raised on the third day according to 
the scriptures.” 

77 


78 


THE CHRIST OF THE SIBER 


Heb. 2:14: 


“Since then the children are sharers in flesh and 
blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of 
the same; that through death He might bring to 
nought him that had the power of death, that is, 
the Devil.” | 


Matt. 207128: 


“Even as the Son of man came not to be min- 
istered unto, but to minister, and to give His life 
a ransom for many.” 


Lake.0 33057305 


“And behold, there talked with Him two men, 
who were Moses and Elijah; who appeared in 
glory, and spake of His decease which He was 
about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” 


Rev. 5: 8-12: 


“And when He had taken the book, the four 
living creatures and the four and twenty elders 
fell down before the Lamb, having each one a 
harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are 
the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new 
song, saying, 

Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open 
the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst 
purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every 
tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and 
madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and 
priests; and they reign upon the earth. 

And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels 
round about the throne and the living creatures 
and the elders; and the number of them was ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of 
thousands; saying with a great voice, 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 70 


Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to re- 
ceive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
might, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” 

Dasor E14: 200 

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink 
the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till He 
come.” 

1sai53 7°5)10: 

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, 
He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon Him; and with His 
stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have 
gone astray; we have turned every one to his 
own way; and Jehovah hath laid (made to strike) 
on Him the iniquity of us all.” 

COVE IG Regn Rete 

“For as many as are of the works of the law 
are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is 
every one who continueth not in all things that 
are written in the book of the law, todothem... 
(13) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the 
law, having become a curse for us; for it is writ- 
ten, Cursed is every one that hangeth ona tree.” 

A Coren ai. 

“Him Who knew no sin He made to be sin on 
our behalf; that we might become the righteous- 
ness of God in Him.” 

Roni sis24)25< 

“Being justified freely by His grace through the 
redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God set 
forth to be a propitiation, through faith, im His 
blood, to show His righteousness because of the 


So 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the for- 
bearance of God.” 


Gi dca sg (bay Fo Rad 8,0 Ye 


“Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the 
righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring 
us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but 
made alive in the Spirit; in which also He went 
and preached unto the spirits in prison.” 


Matt. 12: 40: 


“For as Jonah was three days and three nights 
in the belly of the whale (sea-monster) ; so shall 
the Son of man be three days and three nights in 
the heart of the earth.” 


Acts 2: 22-31: 


“Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of 
Nazareth, a Man approved of God unto you by 
mighty works and wonders and signs which God 
did by Him in the midst of you, even as ye your- 
selves know; Him being delivered up by the de- 
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye 
by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: 
Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of 
death: because it was not possible that He should 
be holden of it. For David saith concerning Him, 

I beheld the Lord always before my face; 

For He is on my right hand, that I should not 
be moved: 

Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue 
rejoiced: 

Moreover, my flesh also shall dwell in hope: 

Because Thou wilt not leave my soul unto 
Hades, 


REE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE SI 


Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see 
corruption. 

Thou madest known unto me the ways of life; 
Thou shalt make me full of gladness with Thy 
countenance. 

Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the pa- 
triarch David that he both died and was buried, 
and his tomb is with us unto this day. Being 
therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had 
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his 
loins He would set One upon his throne; he fore- 
seeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, 
that netther was He left unto Hades, nor did Hts 
flesh see corruption.” 

Jno, 13/29: 

“On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto 
him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sin of the world!” 

What I have to say in this chapter will be entirely 
an exposition of these and other passages of God’s 
Own Book and God’s Only Book, the Bible, in which 
the Death of the Christ of the Bible, the true Christ, 
the only real Christ that ever existed, God’s Own 
‘Christ, Christ Jesus, is described and explained. I 
have no theory of my own regarding the Death of 
Jesus Christ: I accept in all their fullness and in every 
detail all the revelations regarding the Death of His 
Son Jesus Christ, my Saviour and my Lord, that God 
Himself has been pleased to make in this wonderful 
Book, the Bible. I have not the slightest desire to 
speculate at all on the question, but I desire to know 
aJl that God Himself has been pleased to reveal on the 


82 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


subject. And God has been pleased to reveal a vast 
deal, far more than most of us know, far more than 
any of us fully comprehend. We shall still be studying 
and pondering and ever more and more fully under- 
standing in eternity what God revealed so many cen- 
turies ago in this inexhaustible Book of God. All 
that we have to say will be merely an exposition of 
what God has so clearly revealed. 

Let us group what God has revealed under four 
heads: 

I. The Importance of the Death of the Christ. 

II. The Manner of the Death of the Christ. 

III. The Purpose of the Death of the Christ. 

IV. The Results of the Death of the Christ. 


I. THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRIST’S DEATH. 


First then let us consider the importance of Christ’s 
Death. 

1. In the first place, The fundamental importance 
of Christ’s Death is seen in the fact that the Death of 
Jesus Christ is mentioned directly more than one hun- 
dred and seventy-five times in the New Testament. Be- 
sides this there are very many prophetic and typical 
references to the Death of Jesus Christ m the Old 
Testament. Many of these direct references to the 
death of the Christ in the New Testament and many 
also of the prophetic and typical references to His 
death in the Old Testament cover many verses. So we 
see of what prime importance in that revelation of 
truth which God has made to us in His Own Word is 
the Death of Jesus Christ. If we should print in red, 
the color of blood, every reference to the Death of 


ae Crh Pre OnGrr hv bi Bik 83 


Jesus Christ in the Bible, most of us would be amazed 
to find how red a Bible we had. 

2. Again, We see the importance of the Death of 
Jesus Christ from the clear and defimte statements 
made in the Word of God, that the second Person of 
the Trinity, the Eternal Son of God, became a Man, 
took upon Himself flesh and blood for the specific pur- 
pose of dying. This we are told in the clearest possible 
language. For example we read in Heb. 2:14: 

“Since then the children are sharers in flesh 
and blood, He also Himself in like manner par- 
took of the same; that (in order that) through 
death He might bring to nought him that had the 
power of death, that is, the Devil.” 

It is clear from this passage that the incarnation was 
for the specific purpose that the Christ might die. 
Jesus Christ’s Death was not, as so many of our 
“modern” theologians seek to make it out to have 
been, a mere incident of His human life. It was the 
supreme purpose for which He became a Man. He 
became a man “in order that’ He might die as man and 
for man. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself declared to His dis- 
ciples that He came into this world for the specific 
purpose that He might die as a ransom. ‘These are 
His words, in Matt. 20: 28: 

“The Son of man came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom 
for many.” 

3. Again, We see the fundamental and tremendous 
and transcendent importance of Christ’s Death in that 
when Moses and Elijah came back from the other 


84 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


worta to talk with Jesus Christ, the only authentic and 
indubitable and Divinely approved instance of the dead 
coming back and having communion with those still 
living on earth, the one subject about which they talked 
was the Death of Jesus Christ. 

Read it for yourself as it is clearly set forth in Luke 
Os0 eT 

“And behold, there talked with Him two men, 
who were Moses and Elijah; who appeared in 
glory, and spake of His decease which He was 
about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” 

Of what tremendous importance the Death of Jesus 
Christ must be that this was the one thing that those 
who came back to this earth from the other world 
talked about in this unparalleled interview that they 
held with the Lord Jesus Christ while He was here 
on earth. 

4. Inthe fourth place, We see the great importance 
of the Death of Jesus Christ in the fact that the Death 
of the sacrificial Lamb of God is the one central theme 
of Heaven’s song. This we are told in that won- 
drously beautiful picture of the Heavenly world given 
us in Rev. 5: 8-14: 

“And when He had taken the book, the four 
living creatures and the four and twenty elders 
fell down before the Lamb, having each one a 
harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are 
the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new 
song, saying, 

Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to open 
the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst 
purchase unto God with Thy blood men of every 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 85 


tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and 
madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and 
priests; and they reign upon the earth. 

And I saw, and I heard a voice of many angels 
round about the throne and the living creatures 
and the elders; and the number of them was ten 
thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of 
thousands ; saying with a great voice, 

Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to re- 
ceive the power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
might, and honour, and glory, and blessing. 

And every created thing which is in the heaven, 
and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the 
sea, and all things that are in them, heard I saying, 

Unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto 
the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the 
glory, and the dominion, forever and ever. 

And the four living creatures said, Amen. And 
the elders fell down and worshipped.” 

It is evident from this that those who call themselves 
Christians but do not really believe that the Christ 
actually died at all, but that His supposed death, and 
all death, is an “illusion,” or ‘mortal thought,” and 
those also who believe that He actually died, but that 
His death was merely a brave martyr’s death, and that 
we are not redeemed by His shed blood, but by His life 
and His example, if they get to heaven at all, they 
will be very lonesome there, and will have no part 
whatever in Heaven’s song. 

5. We see again, The central importance of the 
Death of Christ in Paul’s clear declaration that there 
are just two fundamental truths, just two central and 


86 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


all governing facts in the Gospel which he proclaims, 
and that these two fundamental truths, these two cen- 
tral and all governing facts are first, that the Christ 
died and was buried, and second that He arose again. 
Let me read to you Paul’s own “God breathed’’ words, 
1. Gor15 31-4: | 
“Now I make known unto you, brethren, the 
Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye 
received, wherein also ye stand, by which also 
ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I 
preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. 
For I delivered unto you first of all that which 
also I received: that Christ died for our sins ac- 
cording to the scriptures; and that He was buried; 
and that He hath been raised on the third day 
according to the scriptures.” 

6. The immeasurable importance of the death of 
Christ is also seen in that His death was the one thing 
about Himself that our Lord Jesus desired to be kept 
in perpetual remembrance by His disciples after Hts 
departure. This we clearly see in the words that Jesus 
Himself spoke in appointing the Lord’s Supper. Read 
buke2210./20; 

“And He took bread, and when He had given 
thanks, He brake it, and gave to them, saying, 
This is My body which is given for you: this do in 
remembrance of Me. And the cup in like man- 
ner after supper, saying, This cup is the new 
covenant in My blood, even that which is poured 
‘out for you.” 

So important was this in our Lord’s eyes that He 
later made a direct revelation regarding it to the 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 87 


Apostle Paul. This Paul himself tells us in 1 Cor. 
II: 23-26: 

“For I received of the Lord that which also 1 
delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the 
night in which He was betrayed took bread; and 
when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, 
This is My body, which is for you; this do m re- 
membrance of Me. In like manner also the cup, 
after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant 
in My blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in re- 
membrance of Me. For as often as ye eat this 
bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s 
death till He come.” 

7. Once more, We see the fundamental and preem- 
inent importance of the Death of Jesus Christ in all 
the Spirit controlled thinking of Paul in that he says 
in another place, in 1 Cor. 2:2: 

“For I determined not to know anything among 
you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.” 

It is clear as day from all these considerations that 
there is nothing else more important, if there is any- 
thing else as important in true Christian thinking, and 
in any theology that has any right whatever to term 
itself Christian, than correct thinking regarding the 
Death of Jesus Christ. 


Il. THE MANNER OF THE DEATH OF THE CHRIST. 


Now let us consider the Manner of the Death of the 
Christ of God. We shall see as we go on that this 
also is of great importance, that is, that not only is the 
fact of His Death important, but also the exact man- 
ner of His death is of great importance. 


88 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


1. First of all under this head, The Bible teaches 
us that the Death of Jesus Christ, the Christ of God 
was a real death, and not a mere “apparent death’ or 
“allusion.” One of the earliest heresies to arise in the 
church was that of Docetism, as it was called. The 
word “Docetism” is derived from a Greek word mean- 
ing “to appear to be’ or “seem to be.” The pestilent 
heretics who bore this name taught that the body of 
Jesus Christ did not really exist, that it only seemed to 
be, and of course that necessarily involved the thought 
that His Death was not a real death, but only an ap- 
parent Death. Much of John’s wonderful First 
Epistle is directed against this error, and John uses 
unmistakable and very vigorous language regarding it 
which you can read for yourselves in 1 Jno. 4: 1-6. 
This old, old heresy is revamped and exploited anew in 
that system that is so prevalent and so active among us 
to-day called “Christian Science,” which teaches that 
the Death of Jesus was not a real Death, but only 
“allusion” or “mortal thought.” It goes further and 
denies that there is really any such thing as death with 
anybody: it affirms that all so-called “Death” does not 
really exist, but is “illusion” or “mortal thought,” that 
even when Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy herself seemed to 
die she did not really die, but only mistakenly thought 
she did, or as one of their great leaders, and Mrs. 
Eddy’s most intimate friend during her last days, Jacob 
Fry, declared at the time, “Mother Eddy was in error 
for a time.” But this “error” on Mother Eddy’s part 
was so strong that it was deemed wise to bury her 
seeming body that seemed to die. Mrs. Eddy did not 
borrow her very ancient heresy directly from the early 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 89 


Docetists but from Dr. Quimby. In her earlier pub- 
lications she acknowledged the source of her philoso- 
phy, but later saw fit to deny it and said it was a direct 
revelation. If it was a revelation the source of this 
revelation is clearly stated in 1 Jno. 4: 1-6, it was a 
revelation not from God, but from the Devil, whose 
very existence she denied. But the Bible declares 
that the Death of Christ Jesus, the Christ of God, was a 
real Death and not a mere seeming Death. These are 
Paul’s “God breathed” words found in 1 Cor. 15: 3, 4: 
“For I delivered unto you first of all that which 
also I received: that Christ died for our sins ac- 
cording to the scriptures; and that He was 
buried.” 

Paul was evidently determined that no one should 
mistake the meaning of his words, that all men should 
understand it was a real death, that He really “died’’ 
and was really “buried.” 

2. In the second place, as to the manner of Christ’s 
Death, The Death of Jesus Christ was a separation of 
the spirit from the body. The body of Jesus was laid 
in Joseph’s tomb and there remained for three days and 
three nights, but the spirit of Jesus went into Hades 
(the abode, up to the time of our Lord’s ascension, of 
all the spirits of those who had died, both good and 
bad). This we are told again and again in a variety 
of forms by our Lord Himself, and by His apostles. 
Listen to what Peter said on the Day of Pentecost, 
Acts 2: 23-31: 

“Him (that is, Jesus of Nazareth, being deliv- 
ered up by the determinate counsel and fore- 
knowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men 


go THE CHRIST GE THE ‘BIBLE 


did crucify and slay: Whom God raised up, hay- 
ing loosed the pangs of death: because it was not 
possible that He should be holden of it. For 
David saith concerning Him, 

I beheld the Lord always before my face; 

For He is on my right hand, that I should not 
be moved: 

Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue 
rejoiced : 

Moreover my flesh also shall dwell in hope: 

Because Thou wilt not leave my soul unto 
Hades, 

Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy one to see 
corruption. 

Thou madest known unto me the ways of life; 

Thou shalt make me full of gladness with Thy 
countenance. 

Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the pa- 
triarch David, that he both died and was buried, 
and his tomb is with us unto this day. Being 
therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had 
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his 
loins He would set One upon his throne; he fore- 
seeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, 
that neither was He left unto Hades, nor did His 
flesh see corruption.” 

The meaning of these words is as plain as language 
can make it, namely, that Christ Himself (‘He’), that 
is, His spirit or “soul” went into “Hades” and His 
“flesh,” that is His body, was left in the tomb but was 
not permitted to “see corruption.” This same Peter 
at a later day, wrote about this in 1 Pet. 3: 18-20: 


DHE CORIS POR DHE BIBLE gI 


“Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the 
righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring 
us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but 
made alive in the spirit; in which also He went 
and preached unto the spirits in prison.” 

The meaning of this also is plain enough, namely, 
that Christ was put to death as far as His “flesh,” his 
body, was concerned, but at the same time His “‘spirit’’ 
was made alive and departed to Hades. There are 
other interpretations of this passage made by good 
men, but they will not bear careful examination, if one 
is to take these inspired words at their face value. 

Our Lord Himself declared to the dying thief a 
short time before the departure from His body, in 
Luke 23: 43: 

“Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.” 

Their bodies still hung on the two crosses dead, but 
together our glorious Lord and that former thug and 
assassin—but now penitent and believing and saved 
sinner—entered “Paradise,” that is that part of Hades 
where up to our Lord’s ascension all the spirits of the 
righteous dead went. 

Our Lord Jesus says again in Matt. 12: 40: 

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights 
in the belly of the sea-monster; so shall the Son of 
man be three days and three nights in the heart of 
the earth.” 

Here we are told that the spirit of Jesus, that is 
Jesus Himself as distinguished from the house He in- 
habited (2 Cor. 5:1) (that is, His body), was in 
Hades, “in the heart of the earth.” 

3. In the third place as regards the Manner of His 


92 THE, CHRIST. OF FHE BIBEe 


death, The Death of the Christ of the Bible was by 
crucifixion and of a broken heart, a heart broken by 
the weight of men’s sins. It was so predicted that He 
would die and it 1s so recorded as a fact of history that 
He did die. 

(1) As to the prediction that He would die by cru- . 
cifixion, read Isa. 53:5: 

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, 
He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon Him; and with His 
stripes we are healed.” 

The literal meaning of the word here translated 
“wounded” is “pierced.” The same Hebrew word is so 
translated in the R. V. of Isa. 51:9 (two chapters 
back). 

Turn now to Zech. 12: 10, II: 

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and 
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of 
grace and of supplication; and they shall look 
unto Me Whom they have pierced.” 

You will also find clear prophetic references to His 
death by crucifixion and some details regarding the 
circumstances that attended His crucifixion in Psalm 
22, for example in verses 14 to 18: 

“T am poured out like water, 

And all my bones are out of joint: 

My heart is like wax; 

It is melted within me. 

My strength is dried up like a potsherd; 

And my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; 

And Thou hast brought me into the dust of 
death. 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 93 


For dogs have compassed me: 

A company of evildoers have inclosed me}; 
They pierced my hands and my feet. 

I may count all my bones; 

They look and stare upon me. 

They part my garments among them, 

And upon my vesture do they cast lots.” 

This same Psalm begins with the cry that our Lord 
Jesus uttered as He died, as He gave up His spirit on 
the cross: 

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
me?” 

We have not time to consider the typical prophecies 
regarding our Lord’s Death by crucifixion, as for ex- 
ample the lifting up of the serpent to which our Lord 
Himself referred in Jno. 3:14, 15, as a type of His 
Own lifting up on the cross. 

As to the historical account that our Lord died by 
crucifixion, it is so familiar to us all that it does not 
need quoting to-day. 

(2) As to the prediction that the Christ would die 
of a broken heart you will note a reference to it in 
the passage we have just read from the twenty-second 
Psalm (vs. 14). You will find it explicitly set forth 
in another Messianic Psalm, Psalm 69, verses 20, 21: 

“Reproach hath broken my heart; and | am full 
of heaviness: 

And I looked for some to take pity, but there 
was none; 

And for comforters, but I found none. 

They gave Me also gall for my food; 

And in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to 
drink.”’ 


94 THE GHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


As to the historical fulfillment of the prophecy that 
Christ would die of a broken heart, we find it in John 
107/34: 

“Howbeit one of the soldiers with a spear 
pierced His side, and straightway there came out 
blood and water.” 

The coming forth from the pierced side of Jesus of 
“blood and water’ which John here records, but of 
which he did not know the significance, and did not 
explain and could not have explained, is clear proof 
that our Lord died as it was predicted He would, of a 
broken heart. When a man dies of a broken heart the 
blood rushes from the heart into the pericardium, the 
sac surrounding the heart, there it lies for a little while 
and then separates into its constituent elements of 
serum (or, “water’’) and red blood corpuscles (or, 
“blood” ). This is clearly what occurred in the case of 
our Lord Jesus, and when some time after His death 
the Roman soldier drove his spear through His side 
into the pericardium the serum (or, “water’”) and red 
blood corpuscles (or, “blood”’) flowed out, and John 
saw them. 

(3) It was necessary that the Christ Who was to 
be the Saviour of men not only die, but die by the 
exact mode by which He did die, that is by crucifixion. 
This is brought out very clearly by Paul in Gal. 3: 10, 
12 

“For as many as are of the works of the law are 
under a curse; for it is written, Cursed is every 
one who continueth not in all things that are writ- 
ten in the book of the law, todo them . . . (13) 
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 95 


having become a curse for us; for it is written, 
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” (cf. 
Denti e7267 211 23): 

By dying by crucifixion our Lord, in the most literal 
way took our place, the place that belonged to you and 
me, the place of the curse, which we brought upon our- 
selves by our sin; and the moment we accept Him we 
step into His place, the place of perfect acceptance be- 
fore God. As Paul puts it in another place, 2 Cor. 
Salt: 

“Him Who knew no sin He (that is God) made 
to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the 
righteousness of God in Him.” 

The Bible is indeed a wonderful Book; how amaz- 
ingly what is said in the earliest books of the Bible fits 
into what is said in the latest books of the Bible. 
Why is that? The answer to this question is easy and 
also deeply significant. It is because all the books of 
the Bible, the earliest as well as the latest, have one 
author, that is GOD, God speaking through the man 
who wrote Deut. 21 : 23 and also through the man who 
wrote Gal. 3:10, 13 more than fifteen hundred years 
later. 


Ill). THE PURPOSE OF CHRIST'S DEATH. 


We now come to the exceedingly important question, 
What was the purpose of Christ’s Death? Here is 
where many who unhesitatingly call themselves Chris- 
tians differ widely from one another; but it is also 
where the Bible is unmistakably plain and unhesitat- 
ingly definite. 

1. Inthe first place, The Bible clearly and positively 


96 CHE CHRIST OFTHE: BIBiIGC 


declares that Jesus Christ died because of the sins of 

others; that 1s, that it was sin that made His Death 

necessary, but that 1t was not His Own sin but the sin 

of others that He bore in His Death. Hts Death was 

vicarious, that is, a righteous Person Who deserved to 

live dying in the place of unrighteous persons who de- 

served to die. This we are told over and over again in 

the Old Testament, and also in the New Testament. 

I will cite only a few of the very many passages in 

which this great truth, which is so widely denfed to-day, 
is set forth. Read first of all Isa. 53:5, 6, 8, 10-12: 

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, 

He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastise- 

ment of our peace was upon Him; and with His 

stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have 

gone astray; we have turned every one to his own 

way; and Jehovah hath laid (literally, made to 

strike) upon Him the iniquity of us all... (8) 

By oppression and judgment He was taken away; 

and as for His generation, who among them con- 

sidered that He was cut off out of the land of the 

living for the transgression of my people to whom 

the stroke was due? ... (10-12) Yet it pleased 

Jehovah to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief; 

when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for 

sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His 

days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in 

His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, 

and shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of Him- 

self shall My righteous Servant justify many; and 

He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I 

divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall 


LEV CHRIS DOR Mi BIBLE 97 


divide the spoil with the strong; because He 
poured out His soul unto death, and was numbered 
with the transgressors: yet He bare the sin of 
many, and made intercession for the trans- 
gressors.” 

In these verses it is repeatedly asserted that the Mes- 
siah died because of sin, and not because of His Own 
sins but because of the sins of others. His death, the 
death of a righteous person who deserved to live, was 
substituted for the death of sinners who deserved to 
die. Turning now to the New Testament read 1 Pet. 
Rite: 

“Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the 
righteous for (in the place of; or, in behalf of) 
the unrighteous.” 

Here it is clearly and distinctly declared that the 
Christ died for sims, and not His Own sins but the 
sins of others, “the righteous in behalf of the un- 
righteous,” a righteous One Who deserved to live, 
dying in behalf of unrighteous ones who deserved to 
die. That is to say His Death was vicarious. Read 
also Rom. 4: 24, 25: 

“But for our sake also, unto whom it shall be 
reckoned, who believe on Him that raised Jesus 
our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up 
for (more exactly, because of ) our trespasses, and 
was raised for (more literally, because of) our 
justification.” 

So again we read in 1 Cor. 15:3: 

“Christ died for our sins.” 

To quote Peter once more, listen to 1 Pet. 2:24: 

“Who His Own self bare our sins in His body 
upon the tree.” 


98 THE* CHRIST ‘OP THE BSIBES 


If the Bible makes anything as plain as day by clear 
and definite statement and by constant repetition, it 
makes it plain as day that the Death of Jesus, the Christ 
of God, was vicarious, 1.e., a righteous Person Who 
deserved to live, dying in the place of unrighteous per- 
sons who deserved to die. His death was substitution- 
ary, 1.¢., His death substituted for our own death, It 
the Bible does not teach that, it does not teach any- 
thing, and what it really means is such a hopeless 
riddle it is a waste of time to try to solve it, and the 
Bible is good for nothing except junk. But the Bible 
does teach it definitely, plainly, positively, repeatedly, 
and if you deal honestly with the Bible you cannot fail 
to see it. Those who deny it begin usually by twisting 
the Bible to make it mean what it does not say, and 
end up by discrediting the Bible altogether, and flatly 
denying its plain statements. 

2. In the second place, The Bible clearly and post- 
tively declares that Christ gave His life (or died) AS 
A RANSOM; that is, His Death was the price paid 
to redeem others from death. Jesus Christ Himself 
declares this in no uncertain terms. You will find this 
plain declaration of our Lord in Matt. 20: 28: 

“The Son of man came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ran- 
som for many.” 

These words are as plain and unmistakable in their 
meaning as words can by any possibility be. 

3. In the third place, Jesus Christ's Soul was made 
a guilt offering for sin, that 1s to say, that it 1s on the 
ground of His Death that pardon is granted to sinners. 
This we are told in the Old Testament in Isa. 53: Io: 


Po ICHRIS DS ORCTHE BIBLE 99 


“Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise Him; He hath 
put Him to grief: when Thou shalt make His soul 
an offering (Hebrew, a trespass offering, or, guilt 
offering. See R.V. Marg.) for sin, He shall see 
His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the 
pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand.” 

What a “guilt offering’ is we are told in Lev. 
6:6, 7. If you will read these verses you will see that 
a “guilt offering’ was an offering of an animal to 
die on the ground of whose death pardon would be 
granted. This thought in regard to Christ’s Death is 
repeated over and over again in the New Testament. 
For example, we read in Eph. 1:7: 

“In Whom we have our redemption through 
His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, ac- 
cording to the riches of His grace.” 

Here we are distinctly told that it is on the ground 
of the shed blood of Jesus Christ that “we” (i.e., be- 
lievers in Jesus Christ) obtain “the forgiveness of our 
trespasses,” that is, that Jesus Christ was made a guilt 
offering for sin, that it was on the ground of His Death 
that pardon has been granted to us who believe on 
Him. We see the same thing again in Rom. 5: 10 and 
Heb. 9: 22 and in various other passages. 

4. In the fourth place, Jesus Christ died AS A 
PROPITIATION for our sins, God set Him forth to 
be a propitiation by His blood; that is to say, that He, 
through the shedding of His blood, or Death, 1s that 
by which the wrath of God against us as sinners 1s ap- 
peased. Both John and Paul declare this in the most 
explicit terms. Read 1 Jno. 4: 10: 

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that 


100 THE CHRIST OF viiE Biss 


He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitia- 
tion for our sins.” 

The word translated “‘propitiation” in this passage 
is defined in Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the 
New Testament as a “means of appeasing,”’ and that 
is the correct definition of the term. So then we are 
here told that God sent His Son to be the means of 
appeasing His Own Holy wrath at sin by taking the 
penalty of sin upon Himself by dying on the Cross. 

Now read Rom. 3:25, 26: 

“Whom God set forth to be a propitiation, 
through faith, in His blood, to show His right- 
eousness because of the passing over of the sins 
done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for 
the showing, I say, of His righteousness at this 
present season: that He might Himself be just, 
and the Justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.” 

The word translated “propitiation” in this verse 
is not exactly the same as the one so translated in 
I Jno. 4: 10, but they are from exactly the same root, 
differing only in their ending, and mean practically the 
same thing. Thayer’s definition of the word here 
translated “propitiation” is, “an expitiatory sacrifice.” 
Prof. Charles Foster Kent in his demonstrably dis- 
honest “Shorter Bible,’ while he gives as a whole the 
passage in Romans from which these verses are taken, 
deliberately and dishonestly cuts out these verses with- 
out the slightest pretext of any manuscript evidence 
for so doing (and there is no manuscript warrant 
whatever for so doing), and with no other discover- 
able reason for so doing than that he does not like the 
plain teaching of these verses. Yet while he does this 


CHE SCHRIS TOM vB BIBLE, IOI 


he unblushingly declares in the preface to his “Shorter 
Bible” that it contains all “those parts of the Bible 
which are of vital interest and practical value to the 
present age.” This statement is one of the most shame- 
ful lies that was ever uttered by a professedly Chris- 
tian man, and goes far towards making his “Shorter 
Bible” the most colossal literary fraud of the twen- 
tieth century. The teaching of the Bible is clear as 
crystal, and this omission of these verses in Kent’s 
“Shorter Bible’ is a confession that the teaching of 
the Bible is clear, but as Professor Kent is not willing 
to face that teaching, he silently omits it with a subtlety 
worthy of the old serpent himself (Gen. 3:1). The 
teaching of these verses is, as already said, that Jesus 
Christ died as a propitiation for our sins, that is, that 
through the shedding of His blood, through His Death 
being substituted for our death, the wrath of God 
against us as sinners is appeased. 

The meaning of all this clearly is that God is Holy 
and must hate sin, that His Holiness and hatred of sin 
must manifest themselves, that His wrath at sin must 
strike somewhere, either upon the sinner himself, or 
upon a lawful substitute, and that His wrath at our 
sin struck on Jesus Christ. As Isaiah puts it in Isa. 
53:6: 

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have 
turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah 
hath laid (literally, made to strike) on Hum the 
iniquity of us all.” 

And as he puts it again in verse eight: 

“By oppression and judgment He was taken 

away ; and as for His generation, who among them 


102 THE ‘CHRIST OF: THE’ BIBLE 


considered that He was cut off out of the land of 
the living for the transgression of My people to 
whom the stroke was due?” 

The “stroke” due to others fell upon Him, and He 
was consequently “cut off out of the land of the liv- 
ing.’ THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST HAD 
ITS FIRST CAUSE IN THE DEMANDS OF 
GOD’S HOLINESS. This doctrine is extremely dis- 
tasteful to the proud natural heart, and to a great many 
of our “modern’’ theologians, but it is the clear and 
unmistakable teaching of God’s Word. 

5. In the fifth place, Christ died as our Passover 
Lamb; that 1s, that His shed blood might serve as a 
ground upon which God would pass over and spare us. 
This we read in I Cor. 5:7: 

“For our passover also hath been sacrificed, 
even Christ.”’ 

Just what a passover sacrifice signifies we are told 
IN SEX TS 53 OTF ie al ee * | 

“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, 
saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall 
take to them every man a lamb, according to their 
fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household: .. . 
(6,7) and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth 
day of the same month; and the whole assembly 
of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at even. 
And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the 
two side posts and on the lintel, upon the houses 
wherein they shall eat it... . (12,13) For I 
will go through the land of Egypt in that night, 
and will smite all the first-born in the land of 
Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 103 


gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am 
Jehovah. And the blood shall be to you for a 
token upon the houses where ye are: and when I 
see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall 
no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I 
smite the land of Egypt. . . . (23) For Jehovah 
will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and 
when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on 
the two side posts, Jehovah will pass over the 
door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in 
unto your houses to smite you.” 

It is clear from these verses that a passover lamb 
was a lamb upon the ground of whose shed blood God 
passed over the houses where the blood was sprinkled, 
and spared the first-born in those houses. So then by 
saying: 

“Our Passover also hath been sacrificed, even 
Christ,” 
God declares that Jesus Christ was sacrificed, or died, 
in order that a ground might be provided, namely, His 
shed blood, upon which God could and would pass over 
and spare us. 


IV. THE RESULTS OF THE DEATH OF THE CHRIST; 


Now let us look at the Results of the Death of the 
only true Christ, the Christ of the Bible, God’s Own 
Christ, Christ Jesus, as God Himself clearly sets them 
forth in His Own Word, the Bible. What the Bible 
says on this subject is of supreme importance and it 
is wonderful, far surpassing anything to be found in 
the most profound and most ingenious and most far- 
sighted and most daring of all man-made philosophies. 


104 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


We will group what the Bible has to say on this sub- 
ject under four heads: 

First, The Results of Christ’s Death in Relation to 
Men in General, both Believers and Unbelievers; 

Second, The Results of Christ’s Death in Relation | 
to Believers; 

Third, The Results of Christ’s Death in Relation to 
the Devil and the Powers of Darkness; 

Fourth, The Results of Christ’s Death in Relation 
to the Material Universe. 

1. ) First: then; THEO RESULTS: ORGGHR IA IGS 
DEATH IN RELATION TO MEN IN GENERAL, 
Both Believers and Unbelievers. 

(1) First of all, The Bible declares that by the 
Death of Jesus Christ, by His lifting up on the cross 
all men are drawn unto Him. This He Himself pro- 
claims in Jno. 12: 32, 33: 

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, wull 
draw all men unto Myself. But this He said, sig- 
nifying by what manner of death He should die.” 

The lifting up of Christ here referred to is His lift- 
ing up on the cross, where He died as an atoning sac- 
rifice for sin. John himself declares this in verse 
thirty-three, “But this He said, signifying by what 
manner of death He should die.” This verse is often 
interpreted to mean that if we lift up Christ in our 
preaching, men will be drawn to Him. Now it is true 
that if we do lift Him up in our preaching men will 
be drawn unto Him, but this clearly is not the mean- 
ing of the verse. The words of our Lord refer en- 
tirely to His being lifted up on the cross to die as an 
atoning sacrifice for our sins, and by thus dying He 


THE CHRISTAOER DHE BIBLE 105 


does draw all men to Himself. The Death of Christ 
is the world’s great magnet, drawing men in grateful 
love to Him Who died in their place. There are many 
who will resist that drawing, but none the less will they 
be drawn. 

This verse is often taken to teach universal salva- 
tion, but if we look at it carefully we see that it teaches 
nothing of the kind. It says all will be drawn unto 
Him, it does not say that all will yield to the drawing 
and come; and we are elsewhere definitely taught that 
many will not come and therefore will be lost. Fur- 
thermore the context clearly shows that the “all men” 
of the passage does not mean every individual man, 
but all races of men, both the Jew and the Gentile 
(Greek). 

(2) In the second place, By the Death of Jesus 
Christ a propitiation is provided for the whole world. 
This John tells us in I Jno. 2:2: 

“He is the propitiation for our sins: and not 
for ours only, but also for the whole world.” 

The propitiation that was made by His atoning 
Death on the cross was for “the whole world.’ That 
is to say, by the Death of Christ a basis is provided 
upon which God can righteously deal in mercy with 
all mankind, with every member of the human race. 
The word here translated ‘“‘propitiation” means “a 
means of appeasing,” and the thought is, by the Death 
of Jesus, the Christ of God, God’s Holy wrath at the 
sinner is appeased and a basis provided upon which 
God can deal in mercy with “the whole world.” All 
of God’s dealings in mercy with any man are on the 
ground of Jesus Christ’s Death. This is as true of 


106 PAE GHRIS TOF Are BIBETs 


God’s dealings in mercy with those who are still un- 
believers, or even profane and violent opposers of the 
truth, as it is of God’s dealings with those who are 
His children through faith in Jesus Christ. Only on 
the ground of Christ’s Death can God deal in mercy 
with any man. 

The question will arise at once, “How then did God 
deal in mercy with those who lived before the time of 
Jesus Christ’s Death upon the cross?” The answer 
to this question is very simple. It will be found in 
Rev. 13; 8) AV2: 

“All that dwell upon the earth shall worship 
Him, whose names are not written in the book 
of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
the world.” 

(The change made in this verse in the American Re- 
vision is not warranted by the best Greek texts.) The 
Death of Christ was in God’s sight, an eternal fact. 
He planned it from the very beginning, even before 
man fell, and took it into consideration in all His deal- 
ings with men from Eden to Calvary. On the basis 
of the atoning Death of Jesus Christ which He had 
already purposed and planned, God dealt in mercy with 
sinners even before that Death became an _ historic 
fact. 

God is dealing in grace to-day with every member 
of the human race. He permits the vilest sinner to 
live and the most blasphemous infidel, and He gives 
them food and drink and health and countless other 
blessings, but all of this is on the ground of the Death 
of that very Son of God Whom the sinner rejects and 
perhaps despises and slanders and blasphemes. Col. 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 107 


Robert Ingersoll had many blessings in his life and 
they were all granted him on the ground of the aton- 
ing Death of that very Jesus of Nazareth, “the Christ 
of the Bible,” Whom he so grossly and so outrageously 
wronged, 

It is to be noted however that the propitiation of 
Christ bears a different relation to the believer to that 
which it bears to the world in general. This comes 
out very clearly in the exact wording of 1 Jno. 2:1, 2, 
as found in the R.V.: 

“And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with 
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is 
the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours 
only, but also for the whole world.” 

You will note that it does not say that Jesus Christ 
is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. He 
is “a propitiation for our sins,’ that is, for the be- 
liever’s sins; but, while not a propitiation for the un- 
believer’s sins, He is a propitiation “for the whole 
world.” The propitiation avails for all; it brings a 
real blessing to all, but it fully avails only for believers 
in Jesus Christ. The same thought is set forth in 
another way in 1 Tim. 4:10: 

“God ... is the Saviour of all men, specially 
of them that believe.”’ 

While the propitiation made by Jesus Christ on the 
cross secures salvation in the fullest sense only for 
those who accept Him Who made the propitiation, it 
secures the possibility of salvation, and it secures also 
merciful dealing, for all, even while they are rejecting 
the propitiation. If, however, men persist in reject- 
ing the propitiation it will ultimately bring the greater 


108 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


condemnation upon their heads. God clearly declares 
this in Heb. 10: 28, 29: 

“A man that hath set at nought Moses’ law 
dieth without compassion on the word of two or 
three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, 
think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath 
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath 
counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he 
was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done 
despite unto the Spirit of grace?” 

So we see that that which was intended for a bless- 
ing becomes a curse to men through their own abuse 
of it, as does every blessing of God when abused. 

John the Baptist taught the same great truth that 
is found in I Jno. 2:2 in a little different form in 
[noSL 20% 

“On the morrow he seeth Jesus coming unto 
him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, that 
taketh away the sin of the world!” 

The Death of Jesus Christ took the sins of the 
world out of the way, so that a clear way to God 
and to pardon and eternal life was opened for every- 
body, even for the vilest sinner or the most outrageous 
infidel and blasphemer. The tense of the verb trans- 
lated “taketh away’’ in this passage is the present tense 
and denotes a continuous action, that is to say, that 
Jesus Christ’s Death continuously takes away the sin 
of the world so that the way to God and pardon is 
kept open for all. 

(3) But even this is not all that the Death of Jesus 
Christ secures for every member of the human race. 
By the Death of Jesus Christ justification of life comes 


THE CHRIS TOMI BIBLE 109 


to all men. Paul speaking in the Holy Spirit, plainly 
declares this in Rom. 5:18: 

“So then as through one trespass the judgment 
came unto all men to condemnation: even so 
through one act of righteousness the free gift 
came unto all men to justification of life.” (R.V.) 

The “one act of righteousness” spoken of in the 
Revised Version, which is the correct translation of 
this verse, is clearly shown by the context to be that 
act of righteousness which our Lord Jesus performed 
by offering Himself in obedience to God as an atoning 
sacrifice when He laid down His life as an atoning 
sacrifice for sin on the cross. And we are here told 
that just as every descendant of Adam by Adam’s sin 
in Eden received condemnation unto death and so all 
died (vs. 15), even so also the free gift “to justifica- 
tion of life’ “came unto all men” through Christ’s 
Death on Calvary. Complete justification is provided 
for all men by the Death of Christ, and, if we appro- 
priate it by simply believing in Him Who died as our 
Substitute, that complete justification becomes ours. 
As Paul puts it two chapters back in Rom. 3: 23-26: 

“For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory 
of God; being justified freely by His grace 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 
Whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through 
faith, in His blood, to show His righteousness 
because of the passing over of the sins done 
aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the 
showing, I say, of His righteousness at this pres- 
ent season: that He might Himself be just, and 
the Justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.” 


IIO THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


But while complete justification, i.e., the putting of 
God’s perfect righteousness in Jesus Christ to our ac- 
count, comes only to the believer, “justification of life,” 
that is resurrection from the dead, comes to every 
member of the Adamic race, believer and unbeliever, 
through Christ’s Death. 

Paul puts this same thought in another way in 
La@onnt 521,22: 

“For since by man came death, by man came 
also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam 
all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.’ 

God here plainly tells us that “as” every descendant 
of Adam lost life by Adam’s sin in Eden, “‘so also” 
every descendant of Adam gets back in Christ’s Death 
what they lost in Adam’s sin, they get life again, they 
get resurrection from the dead. Listen to it again and 
try to take in the force of every word. 

“For since by man came death, by man came 
also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam 
all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.’’ 

Years ago I thought this passage taught universal 
salvation, and it is often so used by others even to 
this day; but when I came to study the passage more 
closely in its context and in the light of other passages 
in God’s Book, I found out that what it really taught 
(and all that it taught) was that all that all men get 
through Christ’s Death was just what it says, “life,” 
physical life, resurrection from the dead. The whole 
chapter in which this passage is found has just one 
subject and that is, the resurrection of the body, and 
that is exactly what all men get through Jesus Christ’s 
Death for all. All men lost life in Adam, physical 


ie) Obs kh Omr UE hy BIBLE III 


life, and all men get life (physical life, resurrection 
from the dead) back again in Christ; the Death of 
Jesus Christ avails to secure resurrection from the 
dead for every member of the human race, believers 
and unbelievers, Every one who dies in Adam gets 
resurrection from the dead in Jesus Christ. Whether 
or not the resurrection we get in Jesus Christ shall be 
a resurrection unto “life” in its fullest sense, or a resur- 
rection unto “condemnation,” “shame and everlasting 
contempt”? (Dan. 12:3; Jno. 5:28, 29), depends en- 
tirely upon what attitude the individual takes towards 
Jesus Christ Who obtained this resurrection for him. 

Let me call attention in passing to the fact that 
there is a large measure of truth in the teaching of 
what is called “Conditional Immortality.” The teach- 
ing of “Conditional Immortality” is, that life is in 
Christ alone, that men are naturally mortal and it is 
only in Christ that they get life. From this they draw 
the conclusion that those who do not accept Christ will 
be annihilated—or cease to have conscious existence. 
The premise is correct, but the conclusion is unwar- 
ranted. It is true that life is in Christ and in Christ 
alone, but all men get life in Christ, believers and un- 
believers, or as the Word of God puts it “As in Adam 
all die so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” So 
we see clearly that the conclusion of ‘Conditional Im- 
mortality,’ which is what they particularly emphasize, 
that all who do not accept Christ shall be annihilated, 
or cease to have conscious existence, is not warranted 
by their premises. Every man gets resurrection from 
the dead in Jesus Christ, but as we have already said, 
whether it is a “resurrection unto life” in its fullest 


tis THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


sense or “unto” condemnation, ‘‘shame and everlast- 
ing contempt” depends entirely upon the attitude the 
individual takes towards Jesus Christ through Whom 
He obtains resurrection from the dead. 
As our Lord Jesus Himself puts it in Jno. 5: 28, 29: 
“Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in 
which all that are in the tombs shall hear His 
voice, and shall come forth; they that have done 
good unto the resurrection of life; and they that 
have done evil, unto the resurrection of judg- 
ment.” 

2. Now let us consider, THE RESULTS OF 
CHRIST’S ‘DEATH IN*®RELATION | TOs 
BELIEVER. These are very many and very won- 
derful and we cannot take them all up here. I have 
gone into the matter in detail in my book, “What the 
Bible Teaches.” Here we will consider only the more 
important and outstanding results of Christ’s Death in 
relation to the Believer. 

(1) In the first place, Every believer in Jesus Christ 
is redeemed from the curse of the law of God, which 
we have all broken. This we are told in Gal. 3:13: 

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, 
having become a curse for us: for it is written, 
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” 

Note carefully the “us” in this verse. The “us” 
means believers in Christ. For every believer in Christ 
the penalty of the broken law of God has been fully 
paid and forever paid by Christ in His death on the 
cross, and the broken law of God has no longer any 
claim whatever upon him. Oh, I am so glad. When 
I study the holy law of God and see how far, how 


an Ct Ts On aT bi BIBI Pes 


very far short I have come of perfectly keeping it, and 
when I see how it pronounces a curse upon every one 
who does not perfectly keep it, I would be filled with 
horror and dismay if it were not for God’s own clear 
testimony in this Book, that Christ “redeemed me from 
the curse of the law” by taking that curse upon Him- 
self, by dying on the tree. In the light of that glorious 
fact instead of being filled with dismay, I am filled 
with peace and joy and glory. (Cf. Rom. 8:1, R.V.) 

(2) In the second place, By the atoning Death of 
Jesus Christ believers in Him who were once enemies 
are now reconciled to God. This God tells us in 
Rom. 5: 10: 

“For if, while we were enemies, we were recon- 
ciled to God through the death of His Son, much 
more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His 
life.” 

All enmity between God and the sinner is done 
away with, for every sinner who has believed on Jesus 
Christ. Jt has already been done away with: Christ 
hath made peace through the blood of His cross: He 
hath reconciled believers in the body of His flesh 
through death. This we are told even more definitely 
in Col. 1: 20-22: 

“And through Him to reconcile all things unto 
Himself, having made peace through the blood of 
fis cross; through Him, I say, whether things 
upon the earth, or things in the heavens. And 
you, being in time past alienated and enemies in 
your mind in your evil works, yet now hath He 
reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, 
to present you holy and without blemish and un- 
reproveable before Him.” 


114 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


The story is told of a faithful Church of England 
vicar who heard that one of his parishioners was very 
ill and near to death. He called upon this dying 
saint. He said to her, “They tell me you are very 
ill.” “Yes,” she said, “I am.” He gently continued, 
“They tell me you have but a short time to live.” 
“Ves,” she said, “I know I have but a few hours to 
live.” Then earnestly but gently he said, “Have you 
made your peace with God?” “No,” the dying saint 
replied, “I have not made my peace with God.” 
“What? said the astonished vicar. “Do you realize 
how near you are to death, that you probably will not 
live another day?” ‘Yes, I realize that.” “And you 
have not made your peace with God?” “No.” “And 
are you not afraid to meet God?” “No,” she replied, 
“not in the least.” There was something about the 
calmness and serenity of the woman’s manner that 
made the vicar think there must be something under- 
neath her words that he did not understand, and he 
said, “What do you mean?’ She replied, “I have 
not made my peace with God. I have no intention of 
making my peace with God and yet I am not the least 
afraid to meet God; for I am resting in the peace 
which Jesus Christ made eighteen centuries ago when 
He died upon the cross-of Calvary in my place.” Yes, 
thank God, by His Death on the cross Jesus Christ 
“made peace through the blood of His cross” and we 
do not have to make our peace with God, but simply 
to accept and rest in the peace which He made nearly 
nineteen hundred years ago. 

(3) In the third place, Through the shedding of 
Christ’s blood, through His atoning death on the cross 


THE: CHRIST OF THE: BIBLE II5 


of Calvary believers in Him have redemption, the for- 
giveness of their sins. This we are told in Eph. 1:7: 

“In Whom we have our redemption through 
His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, ac- 
cording to the riches of His grace.” 

Forgiveness is not something which believers have 
to do something to secure: it is something that has 
already been secured by the Blood shed upon the cross 
and all we have to do is to appropriate by faith what 
the blood of Jesus Christ, His atoning Death, has 
already secured. 

(4) In the fourth place, By (or, “in”’) the blood 
of Christ, His atoning Death, all believers in Him are 
justified. This, God declares to us through His servant 
Paul in Rom. 5:9: 

“Much more then, being now justified by His 
blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God 
through Him.” 

We not only get forgiveness of all our sins through 
the Death of Christ, we also get justification. 

Justification means far more than mere forgiveness 
of sin. Forgiveness is negative, the putting away of 
sin; justification is positive, the reckoning righteous. 
By reason of Christ’s Death there is a complete in- 
terchange of positions between Christ and the believer: 
in His Death on the cross Christ takes our place, the 
place of the curse, the place of condemnation before 
God, and the moment we believe in Him we take His 
place, the place of perfect acceptance before God. Paul 
brings this out in a way that would amaze us if we 
were not so familiar with it. 

7p a ld A 


116 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


“Him Who knew no sin He (that is God) made 
to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the 
righteousness of God in Him.” 

When Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross He hung 
where I belonged. He gave up His place of perfect 
acceptance before God and took my place of condemna- 
tion and curse before God, and the moment I accept 
Him I step into His place of perfect acceptarce before 
God. As it is put in that familiar couplet, 


“Near, so very near, to God, 
Nearer I cannot be, 
For in the Person of His Son, 
I am just as near as He. 


Dear, so very dear, to God, 
Dearer I cannot be, 

For in the Person of His Son, 
I am just as dear as He.” 


All this is on the ground of the atoning death of 
Jesus Christ. 

(5) In the fifth place, Because of Christ’s Death no 
one can lay anything to the charge of God’s elect, 1.é., 
believers in Jesus Christ. This we are told in Rom. 
8: 33, 34: 

“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s 
elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that 
condemneth? It ts Christ Jesus that died, yea, 
rather, that was raised from the dead, Who is at 
the right hand of God, Who also maketh inter- 
cession for us.” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 117 


There is absolutely no condemnation to any one 
who is in Christ Jesus. The substitutionary Death of 
Jesus Christ has settled all condemnation forever for 
every believer. As we read in the first verse of this 
eighth chapter of Romans: 

“There is therefore now no condemnation to 
them that are in Christ Jesus.” 

(6) In the sixth place, By the Death of Jesus Christ 
the whole church and each individual believer in it was 
purchased unto God, and so we are now His own prop- 
erty. We are told this in a number of passages of 
Scripture. Take just one illustration, Rev. 5:9, 10: 

“And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy 
art Thou to take the book, and to open the seals 
thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase 
unto God with Thy blood men of every tribe, and 
tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them 
to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and 
they reign upon the earth.” 

Every believer belongs to God. He is God’s prop- 
erty. God has purchased us at the price of the blood 
shed in the atoning Death of His Son, Jesus Christ, 
on the cross of Calvary. Neither the Devil, nor the 
world, nor we ourselves, have any claim upon us. 
There is great comfort in this thought, for if we are 
God’s property we are secure; for God is certainly able 
to take perfect care of His own property. 

The story is told of a godly slave in the antebellum 
days whose master was a godless man who often tried 
to confuse and perplex the slave. One day his master 
asked him, “Sam, what would you do if the Devil 
should get after you?” and the godly slave replied, “I 


118 THE GHRIST: OF DHE. BERICE 


would simply look up into God’s face and say, ‘Massa, 
look out for your own property.’ ”’ And God will look . 
out for His own property; and, as the blood of Jesus 
Christ has made us God’s property, I know I am per- 
fectly secure. 

(7) In the seventh place, Through the offering of 
the body of Jesus Christ, 1.e., by His atoning Death, 
all believers in Him are sanctified. ‘This, God tells us 
Mi riebr TO2:10 

“By which will (that is the will of God) we 
have been sanctified through the offering of the 
body of Jesus Christ once for all.” 

We are here told that every believer in Jesus Christ 
is already sanctified, that is, that the sacrifice of Christ 
sets him apart for God. Sanctification in this sense is 
not something we must do something to secure: it is 
something that the blood of Jesus Christ has already 
secured for every believer in Him. The blood of 
Christ separates the believer from the world (cp. Ex. 
11:7; Ex. 12:13) and separates him unto God. It 
is our part to live out in our daily life this separation 
between us and the world and separation unto God 
which already exists by virtue of Christ’s Death on the 
cross. As far as our standing before God is concerned 
we are already sanctified, but we need to realize in 
our state that which is already true in our standing. 

(8) In the eighth place, By one offering, 1.e., by the 
offering of His own life on the cross Jesus Christ per- 
fected forever them that are sanctified, i.e., all believers 
(see verse 10). This we are told in Heb. 10: 14: 

“For by one offering He (that is Jesus Christ) 
hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.”’ 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 11g 


The question inevitably arises, In what sense have 
all believers already been made perfect? The answer 
to the question is found in verses one and two of this 
same chapter. Believers in Christ are made perfect 
in their standing before God: by the Death of Christ 
the believer is forever cleansed from all guilt. He 
need have no more consciousness of sins; the blood 
removes all guilt; all the believer’s guilt is put away 
forever by the one all sufficient sacrifice. There is 
nothing that we can do to add to that perfect atoning 
work and there is nothing that we need to do: it is 
already done. 

(9) In the ninth place, The blood of Christ cleanses 
the conscience of the believer from dead works to 
serve the living God. This we are told in Heb. 9:14: 

“Ffow much more shall the blood of Christ, 
Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself 
without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience 
from dead works to serve the living God?” 

Not only does the blood of Jesus Christ relieve the 
conscience of the believer from all the burden of guilt: 
it also relieves the conscience of the believer from all 
his self efforts to atone for sin or please God (which 
are here called “dead works”). Sin is seen in the 
Death of Christ as entirely settled by that perfect sac- 
rifice, and now the believer has a conscience free from 
all guilt and also free from the burden of all his self 
efforts after righteousness, his own imperfect works, 
and enters into the service of the living God in the 
liberty and power of sonship (cf. Rom. 8:15). 

There are many to-day who call themselves Chris- 
tians, who have not permitted the blood of Christ to 


120 THE CHRIST (OF THE BIBLE 


cleanse their conscience from “dead works.’’ They 
are constantly under the burden of doing something to 
atone for sin and to commend them to God. But we 
have nothing to do: it is all already done, the blood of 
Jesus Christ has forever commended us to God (2 Cor. 
Seely dom 22-20 eye 

There are three classes of men: first, Those who are 
not burdened by sin but love it; second, Those who 
are burdened by sin and seek to get rid of the burden 
by their own self-efforts, by doing penances or by say- 
ing many prayers or by doing some kind of righteous 
acts, doing something to atone for sin and to com- 
mend them to God, “dead works.” No peace can 
ever be found along this line, nor real love to God, 
nor service for God; third, Those who believe in 
Christ and His atoning blood and really believe what 
God says about the blood, and therefore see their sins 
settled forever by the Death of Christ (as God says 
they are), and who therefore have a conscience 
cleansed from both guilt and “dead works,’ the 
hearts of all such are filled with love to God and they 
“serve the living God,’ not in the fear of punishment, 
but in the freedom of love born of a faith in the cleans- 
ing and perfecting blood. They serve God not in order 
to atone for sin, but out of a great gratitude that all 
their sins are already perfectly atoned for. 

(10) Inthe tenth place, By His Death upon the cross, 
Jesus Christ has “blotted out’ and “taken away” and 
“nailed to the cross’ the Mosaic law. This God tells 
us through the apostle Paul in Col. 2:14: 

“Having blotted out the bond written in ordi- 
nances that was against us (which is, of course, 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE I2I 


the Mosaic law), which was contrary to us: and 
He hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the 
CTOSS. 

Not only has the curse which the law imposed upon 
the breaker of it, been settled by the Death of Christ, 
but the law, itself, has been done away with by the 
Death of Christ: ) As: Paul puts it im-2)Cor.3:.7, 11 : 

“But if the ministration of death, written and 
engraven on stones (this must include the ten com- 
mandments which were the only part of the law 
engraven on stones), came with glory, so that the 
children of Israel could not look steadfastly upon 
the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which 
glory was passing away: ... (11) For if that 
which passeth away was with glory (that is the 
Mosaic law), much more that which remaineth is 
in glory.” 

The meaning of these verses is unmistakable if we 
are to take God’s Word at its face value: Christ has 
settled all the claims of the law, fulfilled the law, and 
so done away with it as far as the believer in Christ 
is concerned. As Paul puts it in another place, Rom. 
IO: 4: 

“Christ is the end of the law unto righteous- 
ness to every one that believeth.” 

This does not mean for a moment that the one who 
believes in Jesus Christ is at liberty to do the things 
the ten commandments command him not to do. It 
means that he is no longer governed by a law outside 
of him, but by the law of God written in his heart by 
the Holy Spirit, and his obligation to keep the things 
written in the law is not to the law but to Jesus Christ, 


122 LHE CHRIST -OF THE BIBER 


the new Husband. Paul puts it this way in Rom. 
721-4, 6: 

“Are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men 
who know the law), that the law hath dominion 
over a man for so long time as he liveth? For 
the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to 
the husband while he liveth; but if the husband 
die, she is discharged from the law of the hus- 
band. So then if, while the husband liveth, she 
be joined to another man, she shall be called an 
adulteress : but if the husband die, she 1s free from 
the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be 
joined to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, 
ye also were made dead to the law through the 
body of Christ; that ye should be joined to An- 
other, even to Him Who was raised from the 
dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto 
God. . . . (6) But now we have been discharged 
from the law, having died to that wherein we were 
held; so that we serve in newness of the Spirit, 
and not in oldness of the letter.”’ 

That is, we serve in the power of the Holy Spirit 
within us Who leads us and empowers us to gladly do 
the things that are commanded in the law and we are 
no longer governed merely by the letter of the law 
without, but by the living Spirit within us. We are 
no longer debtors to a law but to a Person, even to 
Jesus Christ Himself. We are made dead to the law 
through the crucified body of Jesus Christ, to enter 
into a higher obligation to do the things that are ac- 
cording to the will of God as revealed in His Word, 
because of our union with Him Who arose from the 
dead. 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 123 


I have collated in all twenty-five Results of the 
Death of Jesus Christ in relation to the believer, but 
we will stop here on the tenth, the complete number. 

3. Now let us consider, THE RESULTS OF 
THE DEATH OF CHRIST IN RELATION TO 
THE DEVIL AND THE POWERS OF DARK- 
NESS. These too are very wonderful and are calcu- 
lated to fill our hearts with joy. 

(1) First of all, Through Christ’s Death the casting 
out of the Prince of this world (1.e., the Devil) 1s 
secured. This we are told in Jno. 12: 31: 

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall 
the prince of this world be cast out.” 

The context shows that it is because of Christ’s 
Death that the Prince of this world, the Devil, is cast 
out. Since Christ’s Death Satan is a usurper, whose 
ultimate dethronement is secured. The dethronement 
is an already accomplished fact as far as God’s work 
is concerned, though it is not yet outwardly mani- 
fested and will not be until the return of our Lord. 

(2) In the second place, Through the Death of Jesus 
Christ the Devil is brought to nought, or rendered in- 
operative. This we are told in Heb. 2:14, R.V.: 

“Since then the children are sharers in flesh and 
blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of 
the same; that through death He might bring to 
nought him that had the power of death, that 1s, 
the devil.” 

The Greek word translated “destroy” in the A.V. 
and “bring to nought” in the R.V. means literally to 
“render idle or inoperative,’ “to cause a person or 
thing to have no further efficiency; to deprive of force, 


124 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


influence or power.’ The Death of Jesus Christ was 
the death knell of Satan’s power. He could no longer 
wield the power of death over those who appropriated 
to themselves the redeeming power that there is in 
Christ’s Death. 

(3) In the third place, In the Death of Christ on 
the cross God triwmphed over the principalities and the 
powers and exposed them to open disgrace. ‘This we 
are told in Col. 2: 14,15: 

“Having blotted out the bond written in ordi- 
nances that was against us, which was contrary 
to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing 
it to the cross; having despoiled the principalities 
and the powers, He made a show of them openly, 
triumphing over them in it’ (that is, in the Cross). 

As to what the principalities and powers that are 
mentioned in this verse are, see Eph. 6: 12: 

“For our wrestling is not against flesh and 
blood, but against the principalities, against the 
powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, 
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the 
heavenly places.” 

Evidently the principalities and powers are Satan 
and his hosts. It was in the cross of Christ that God 
fought the decisive battle, and won the decisive victory 
over the Devil. When Jesus Christ died upon the 
cross it seemed to be the moment of Satan’s greatest 
victory, but it was in reality the moment of his most 
overwhelming defeat. From that moment he has been 
a conquered foe. He is allowed for some wise pur- 
pose of God to still exercise a measure of power, but 
he is defeated and doomed: in the cross of Christ 


THE CHRIST OF >THE, BIBLE 125 


God celebrated a triumph over him. The whole mean- 
ing of this conflict and victory at the cross will be, I 
believe, a subject for our contemplation and wonder 
at the manifold wisdom of God throughout the ages 
of the eternal world. 

4. We come now to a consideration of THE RE- 
SULTS OF THE DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST IN 
RELATION TO THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE. 
It has never occurred to many of us, unless we have 
made a deep and careful study of the subject, that the 
Death of Christ affects the material universe at all. 
We know His Death has results as regards man, and 
we may know that His Death has results regarding 
the Devil and the powers of darkness arrayed under 
him, but we have not even dreamed that His Death has 
any results regarding the material universe. But this 
wonderful Book declares that it has far reaching re- 
sults regarding even the material universe. What are 
those results? This question is plainly answered in the 
Word of God where we are taught that, Through the 
Death of Jesus Christ “all things,’ the entire material 
universe (“all things whether they be things in earth 
or things in heaven’’), are reconciled unto God. This 
we are told in Col. 1: 19, 20: 

“For it was the good pleasure of the Father 
that in Him (that is, in Jesus Christ) should all 
the fullness dwell; and through Him to reconcile 
all things unto Himself, having made peace 
through the blood of His cross; through Him, I 
say, whether things upon the earth, or things in 
the heavens.” 

The Bible tells us that the entire material universe 


126 THE GHRIST: OF THE BIEBER 


has fallen away from God in connection with sin. It 
tells us in Rom. 8: 20, 21: 

“For the creation (that is, the material crea-. 
tion) was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, 
but by reason of Him who subjected it, in hope 
that the creation itself also shall be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the 
glory of the children of God.” 

The same thing is hinted at away back in the first 
book of the Bible, Gen. 3:18. Not earth only but 
heaven also has been invaded by sin. We read in Eph. 
Gide 

“For our wrestling is not against flesh and 
blood, but against the principalities, against the 
powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, 
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the 
heavenly places.” 

And we also read in Heb. 9: 23, 24: 

“It was necessary therefore that the copies of 
the things in the heavens should be cleansed with 
these; but the heavenly things themselves with 
better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered 
not into a holy place made with hands, like in 
pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to 
appear before the face of God for us.” 

Through the Death of Christ, this pollution of 
heaven as well as the earth through sin, is to be put 
away. Just as the blood of the Old Testament sacri- 
fices was taken into the Most Holy Place (which is the 
type of heaven), Christ has taken the blood of His 
own better sacrifice into heaven itself and cleansed it. 
“All things . . . whether they be things in earth, or 
things in heaven” are now reconciled to God. 


TEE CHRIS D OFTHE BIBLE 127 


Paul tells us that “the creation itself also shall be 
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the lib- 
erty of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8: 21), 
and Peter tells us that “we look for a new heaven and 
a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 
3:13). 

The atonement of Christ has an immense sweep, far 
beyond the reach of our petty human philosophies. 
We have only begun to understand what the blood that 
was spilt on Calvary means. On the one hand, we see 
that sin is a far more awful, ruinous and far reaching 
evil than we have been wont to think; but, on the other 
hand, we see that the blood of Christ has a power and 
efficacy, the fullness of which only eternity will dis- 
close. 

Here we close our study of the “Death of the Christ” 
as set forth in God’s Word, but we are far from hav- 
ing said all the Bible says on this question of such 
fundamental importance in present day thinking and 
in the thinking of every age. Again we see what a 
wonderful book the Bible is and how widely its teach- 
ings vary from much that passes for advanced and 
profound thinking to-day, and how immeasurably it 
transcends the vain philosophies of this superficial age 
in which we live, an age in which not only “silly 
women,” but supposedly scholarly men, renowned 
scientists, philosophers and theologians, are befuddled 
by the alcoholic vapors of their own boot-leg philo- 
sophical booze. But the profound and lofty revelation 
of this old, but ever new and fresh, Word of God looms 
up serene, majestic and sublime above the mists and 
clouds that hang over the miasmatic swamps of twen- 


128 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


tieth century dreamings. Much of the philosophical 
and theological thinking of our day is simply an exag- 
gerated case of intellectual autointoxication. 

I noticed in last Tuesday night’s paper that a trust 
had been formed in the house of a well-known finan- 
cier to rewrite the Bible, in order that it might con- 
form to our present day thinking. Well, the man men- 
tioned is an expert in forming trusts to corral all the 
material wealth in the world and turn it into a few 
already overinflated pockets, but he and his asso- 
ciates, in undertaking the improvement of this very 
ancient but still absolutely peerless Book that is always 
up to date and ahead of date, have undertaken a job 
as far beyond them as it would be beyond a bullfrog 
to swallow down the ocean. Like the other over- 
inflated bullfrog of /Esop’s fable, they will burst in 
the attempt. 

But, turning away from these fatuous and fool- 
hardy religious derelicts, let us fasten our eyes upon 
the cross of Christ as it is set before us in the im- 
perishable Word of God, and also fasten our eyes upon 
Him Who died on that cross, and ponder what won- 
drous things that Death meant for all mankind, and 
especially for us who believe in Him, and also what it 
meant as to the complete overcoming of that dark 
world of gloom in which Satan reigns, and as to the 
whole material universe that fell in man’s fall and that 
“shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption 
into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” 
in connection with man’s redemption by the atoning 
blood of the Christ of God. 


CHAPTER IV 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: THE RESURRECTION OF THE 
CHRIST FROM THE DEAD 


We shall consider in this chapter, The Christ of the 
Bible: the Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the 
Christ of the Bible, from the Dead. Ponder to begin 
with five passages from God’s Word. 

First, 2 Tim. 2:8: 

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, 
of the seed of David, according to my gospel.” 

Second, 1 Cor. 15: 1-4: 

“Now I make known unto you, brethren, the 
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye 
received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye 
are saved, if ye hold fast the Word which I 
preached unto you, except ye believed in vain. 
For I delivered unto you first of all that which 
also I received: that Christ died for our sins ac- 
cording to the scriptures; and that He was buried; 
and that He hath been raised on the third day ac- 
cording to the scriptures.” 

CRU Cisat sh. 21) oo 

“And in these days Peter stood up in the midst 
of the brethren, and said (and there was a multi- 
tude of persons gathered together, about a hun- 
dred and twenty), ... (21,22) Of the men 
therefore that have companied with us all the time 


that the Lord Jesus went in and went out among 
129 


130 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto the 
day that He was received up from us, of these 
must one become a witness with us of His resur- 
rection.” 


Fourth, Acts 2: 29-36: 


“Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the 
patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, 
and his tomb is with us unto this day. Being 
therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had 
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his 
loins He would set One upon his throne; he fore- 
seeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, 
that neither was He left unto Hades, nor did His 
flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God raise 
up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being there- 
fore by the right hand of God exalted, and having 
received of the Father the promise of the Holy 
Spirit, He hath poured forth this, which ye see 
and hear. For David ascended not into the 
heavens: but he saith himself, 

The Lord said unto my Lord, 
Sit thou on my right hand, 
Till I make thine enemies the footstool 
of thy feet. 
Let all the house of Israel therefore know as- 
suredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and 
Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified.” 


Fifth, Acts 17: 30, 31: 


“The times of ignorance therefore God over- 
looked; but now He commandeth men that they 
should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as He 
‘hath appointed a day in which He will judge the 


(ere Chas be On Dior Br ilk 131 


world in righteousness by the Man Whom He 
hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance 
unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the 
dead.” 

These verses do not contain all that we have to say 
upon this subject, but simply give the keynote of what 
we have to say, but I shall say nothing that is not 
plainly taught in these verses or in other verses from 
God’s Own Word that I cite to you as we proceed. 
I shall not tell you merely what I guess about the 
Resurrection, or even merely what I think about the 
Resurrection. That might be interesting and that is 
what many are doing to-day; but I shall do something 
vastly more worth while, and that is, I will show you 
what God Himself plainly and unmistakably says about 
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead. We 
shall not take up here The Certainty of the fact of 
His Resurrection. I have done that already in various 
books, and have clearly shown that the evidence for 
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead is 
overwhelmingly convincing, so convincing indeed that 
no man who really desires to know and obey the truth, 
can carefully and thoroughly study this evidence with- 
out being fully convinced that the body of Jesus was 
yaised from the dead just as 1s recorded in the four 
Gospels. 

But to-day we shall not consider the Certainty of 
His Resurrection, but what God tells us in His Own 
Word regarding it. We shall consider first, The Im- 
portance of His Resurrection; second, The Manner of 
His Resurrection; third, The Results of His Resur- 
rection, 


132 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE RESURRECTION OF 
JESUS CHRIST. 


First of all then, let us look at what God says in 
His Own Word regarding the Importance of the 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

1. In the first place, We see the Importance of the 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the fact that the Resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ from the Dead is mentioned 
directly a hundred and four or more times in the two 
hundred and sixty chapters of the New Testament. 
Some of the passages that mention it cover many 
verses and even whole chapters. 

2. In the second place, We see the Importance of 
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ in the fact that the 
apostles made the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from 
the Dead the most prominent point in all their testi- 
mony and the very center of all their teaching and 
preaching. Let me cite a part of Peter’s sermon on 
the day of Pentecost, the very heart of his argument, 
Acts 2:24, 27-36: 

“Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs 
of death: because it was not possible that He 
should be holden of it. . . . (27-32) 

Because Thou wilt not leave my soul unto 

Hades, 

Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to 

see corruption. 

Thou madest known unto me the ways of life; 

Thou shalt make me full of gladness with Thy 

countenance. 
Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 133 


patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, 
and his tomb is with us unto this day. Being 
therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had 
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of 
his loins He would set One upon his throne; he 
foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the 
Christ, that neither was He left unto Hades, nor 
did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God 
raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being 
therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and 
having received of the Father the promise of the 
Holy Spirit, He hath poured forth this, which ye 
see and hear. For David ascended not into the 
heavens: but he saith himself, 

The Lord said unto my Lord, 

Sit Thou on My right hand, 

Till I make thine enemies the footstool 

of thy feet, 

Let all the house of Israel therefore (that is be- 
cause God raised up Christ) know assuredly, that 
God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this 
Jesus Whom ye crucified.” 

Peter’s whole sermon on the Day of Pentecost 
turned upon the fact of the Resurrection of the body 
of Jesus, the Christ of God, from the dead. Peter 
bases all his reasoning upon that fact of which he says 
he himself was a personal witness, having seen Jesus 
with his own eyes after His Resurrection from the 
Dead. 

We have a summary of the teaching and continuous 
teaching of the apostles when they were filled with 
the Holy Spirit in Acts 4: 31, 33: 


134 


THE CHRIST OF THE. BIBLE 


“And when they had prayed, the place was 
shaken wherein they were gathered together; and 
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they 
spake the Word of God with boldness. . . . (33) 
And with great power gave the apostles their wit- 
ness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.” 


Now listen to the climax of Peter’s sermon in the 
household of Cornelius, the part to which all that he 


had 


said before had been leading up, the fact upon 


which he based his closing statement that to Christ 
Jesus “bare all the prophets witness, that through His 
Name every one that believeth on Him shall receive re- 
mission of sins” (Acts 10:43). Read carefully what 
precedes this remarkable statement, Acts 10: 38-43: 


“Even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed 
Him with the Holy Spirit and with power: Who 
went about doing good, and healing all that were 
oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. 
And we are witnesses of all things which He did 
both in the country of the Jews, and in Jeru- 
salem; Whom also they slew, hanging Him on 
a tree. Him God raised up the third day, and 
gave Him to be made manifest, not to all the peo- 
ple, but unto witnesses that were chosen before of 
God, even to us, who ate and drank with Him 
after He rose from the dead. And he charged 
us to preach unto the people, and to testify that 
this is He Who is ordained of God to be the Judge 
of the living and the dead. Yo Him bear all the 
prophets witness, that through His Name every 
one that believeth on Him shall receive remission 
of sins,” 


LHE CHRISTOF THE BIBLE 135 


Now look at Paul’s sermon in Antioch, the climax 
of that sermon and the point on which Paul bases 
his glorious statement in verses thirty-eight and thirty- 
nine, “Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that 
through this Man ts proclaimed unto you remission of 
sins: and by Him every one that believeth is justified 
from all things, from which ye could not be justified 
by the law of Moses.’ Listen to Paul’s argument, 
Acts 13: 32-39: 

“And we bring you good tidings of the prom- 
ise made unto the fathers, that God hath fulfilled 
the same unto our children, in that He raised up 
Jesus; as also it is written in the second Psalm, 
Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee. 
And as concerning that He raised Him up from 
the dead, now no more to return to corruption, He 
hath spoken on this wise, I will give you the holy 
and sure blessings of David. Because He saith 
also in another Psalm, Thou wilt not give Thy 
Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he 
had in his own generation served the counsel of 
God, fell asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, 
and saw corruption: but He Whom God raised up 
saw no corruption. Be it known unto you there- 
fore (that is, because God raised Him up), breth- 
ren, that through this Man is proclaimed unto you 
remission of sins: and by Him every one that be- 
lieveth is justified from all things, from which ye 
could not be justified by the law of Moses.” 

Listen to Paul’s sermon at the Areopagus, the most 
celebrated center of Greek philosophy in Paul’s day, 
and to an audience almost wholly composed of phi- 


136 THE*CCHRISIN OF TEE Bip iia 


losophers, Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, Acts 
DAU ile LO) 2s GOna Ue : 
“So he reasoned in the synagogue with the 
Jews and the devout persons, and in the market- 
place every day with them that met him. And 
certain also of the Epicurean and Stoic philoso- 
phers encountered him. And some said, What 
would this babbler say? others, He seemeth to be 
a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached 
Jesus and the resurrection. And they took hold of 
him, and brought him unto the Areopagus, saying, 
May we know what this new teaching is, which 
is spoken by thee? . . . (22) And Paul stood in 
the midst of the Areopagus, and said... (30, 
31) The times of ignorance therefore God over- 
looked; but now He commandeth men that they 
should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as He 
hath appointed a day in which He will judge the 
world in righteousness by the Man Whom He 
hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance 
unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the 
dead.” 

We could easily multiply illustrations, but instead 
of doing that let me make this statement (that you 
can verify for yourself) that every sermon recorded 
in the Acts of the Apostles, without a single excep- 
tion, centers in the fact of the Resurrection of the body 
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Furthermore, when it 
was seen to be necessary to fill up the full quota of the 
twelve disciples by the choice of one to supply the 
place which the betrayal and tragic death of Judas 


THE CHRIST OFTHE BIBLE 137 


Iscariot had left vacant, Peter said, as recorded in 
etsoUs 2p 224 
“Of the men therefore that have companied 
with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went 
in and went out among us, beginning from the 
baptism of John, unto the day that He was re- 
ceived up from us, of these must one become a 
witness with us of His resurrection.” 

It is evident then that the central and the most funda- 
mental thing in the apostolic testimony was their testi- 
mony to the Resurrection of the body of Jesus Christ 
from the dead. The one who is perhaps the most in- 
fluential teacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church to- 
day is Prof. Franklin Harris Rall. Every candidate 
for the ministry in the Methodist Episcopal Church is 
required to study two of his books. It is true the 
last General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church voted by an overwhelming majority to put 
these two extremely dangerous books out of the course, 
but the Board of Bishops, in utter contempt for this 
decision of the General Conference, have put the books 
back into the course. Professor Rall says in one of 
these books, “Nor is it important to answer the second 
question” (that is, the question as to the manner of 
the Resurrection), and he goes on to say, “The only 
issue is whether we believe in the reality of the spiritual 
world.” Now evidently either Professor Rall has not 
carefully read the Acts of the Apostles and studied the 
sermons of the Apostles as therein recorded, or else 
he makes bold to set up his own opinion against theirs. 
At the close of his paragraph Professor Rall says, 


138 TAB CHRIST OF (PRR BIBicE 


“The one clear fact without which the wonderful story 
of early Christianity is a mere riddle, is the fact that 
these disciples were following a living Lord, and not 
a dead and defeated Leader.” ‘This statement of Pro- 
fessor Rall’s is utterly untrue. The “one fact” that 
is “clear” as day to any one who studies his Bible to 
find out what it really teaches and not merely to make 
it fit into his own unbelieving or heretical notions, is 
that the Apostles and other early Christian disciples _ 
“were following a Lord” Who was not only “a living 
Lord,” but One Who was “living” because His once 
dead body had been raised from the dead. THE 
FACT. OF (THE “RESURRECTION VOR tiem 
BODY OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD 
WAS THE VERY CENTER AND HEART OF 
ALL: THE APOSTOLIC” TESTIMONY WAND 
PREACHING. It is evident from all that we have 
just read from the Bible that the Resurrection of Jesus 
Christ had a prominence and importance in New 
Testament teaching that it has not in most of our , 
modern preaching. It is the one fact upon which the 
apostles were constantly ringing the changes. 

3. In the third place, We see the Importance of the 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ from Paul’s clear and 
defimte statement that there are just two fundamental 
facts in the Gospel and that one of those two funda-. 
mental facts 1s the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from 
the dead. You will find this statement in 1 Cor. 15: 
1,2, 

“Now I make known unto you, brethren, the 
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye 
received, wherein also ye stand.... (3, 4) 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 139 


For I delivered unto you first of all that which 
also I received: that Christ died for our sins ac- 
cording to the scriptures; and that He was buried; 
and that He hath been raised on the third day 
according to the scriptures.,”’ 

These two facts constitute the Good News (or, the 
Gospel) : the first fact of the two facts is the one that 
we studied in the fourth chapter, the fact that Jesus 
Christ died for our sins and was buried; and the 
second of these two all important facts is, that He was 
raised on the third day. Gospel preachers in these days 
preach the Gospel of the crucifixion of Christ, His 
atoning death; but the apostles preached also the Gospel 
of the Resurrection from the dead of that Christ Who 
was natled to the cross. 

The crucifixion loses its meaning without the Resur- 
rection. Without the Resurrection the death of Jesus 
Christ would become nothing more than the heroic 
death of a noble martyr; but with His Resurrection 
from the dead, it becomes the atoning death of the Son 
of God. The Resurrection shows that the death of 
Jesus was of sufficient value to cover all our sins be- 
cause it was the sacrifice of One Whom God Himself 
attested to be His Son. In the Resurrection from the 
Dead of Him Who died upon the cross for us, we have 
an all-sufficient ground for knowing that our blackest 
sin is atoned for. My sin may be as high as the high- 
est mountain, but the sacrifice that covers it is as high 
as the highest heaven. My guilt may be as deep as the 
ocean, but the atonement that swallows it up is as deep 
as eternity. 

4. In the fourth place, We see the Importance of 


140 DHE CIPRisT OR HE BIBLE 


the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, the Christ of the 
Bible, in that Paul tells us that the one great fact to 
be remembered about Jesus Christ as the very heart of 
His Gospel was that He rose from the dead. This we 
read in 2 Tim. 2:8: 
“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, 
of the seed of David, according to my Gospel.” 

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the one great 
fact about his Gospel that Paul wished Timothy never 
to lose sight of. God grant that none of us shall ever 
lose sight of it. 

5. Inthe fifth place, We see the Importance of the 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead in that the 
Christian faith stands or falls with the Resurrection 
of the body of Jesus Christ from the dead: if He did 
not rise from the dead, Christian preaching is empty 
and the Christian faith forceless and useless. This 
Paul tells us in 1 Cor. 15:14, 17: 

“And if Christ hath not been raised, then is 
our preaching vain, your faith also is vain... . 
(17) and tf Christ hath not been raised, your 
faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.” 

There is no escaping the significance of these “‘God- 
breathed” words of Paul. They declare in the plainest 
possible kind of language that the Christian faith 
stands or falls with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead, that if He did not rise from the dead, 
then all Christian preaching is ““empty’’ and thé Chris- 
tian faith is “forceless” and ‘“‘useless.”’ : 

The two different Greek words used in these two 
verses and translated, in each case, “vain,’’ mean 
“empty” and “forceless” (or, “useless”). If the body 


JHE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 141 


of Jesus Christ was not raised from the dead, then the 
Christian faith must go and the preaching of Christ 
it utterly “empty.”’ The Devil knows that as well as 
we do and we see his subtility and rare cunning at the 
present time in his inducing so many young preachers 
to give up believing in or preaching the Resurrection 
of the body of Jesus. On the other hand, as we shall 
see later, IF JESUS CHRIST DID RISE FROM 
THE DEAD, AS BEYOND AN HONEST AND 
INTELLIGENT DOUBT HE DID, CHRISTIAN 
PREACHING AND CHRISTIAN FAITH RESTS 
UPON A SOLID FOUNDATION OF IMPREG- 
NABLE FACT. Christian faith is no longer a mere 
theological speculation, but a certainty demonstrated by 
an indisputable fact. 

6. In the sixth place, We see the fundamental and 
unmeasurable Importance of the Resurrection of Jesus 
Christ from the dead in the fact that the truth of the 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead has power 
to save any one who believes it with the heart. This 
Paul tells us in very simple, easily understood but 
deeply significant language in Rom. 10:9, 10: 

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as 
Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God 
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved: 
for with the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
ness; and with the mouth confession is made unto 
salvation.” | 

We are here told that there is one truth and only 
one that a man needs to believe in order to be saved 
and that that one truth is that God raised the Lord 
Jesus from the dead. This truth, however, of the 


142 THE CHRIST OF ‘THE BIBLE 


Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead carries 
with it a great many other truths. Indeed it carries 
with it every essential doctrine of Christianity. Be- 
lieve in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
dead and you are logically forced to believe in every 
essential truth of the Christian faith. 

It must be clear to any person of intelligence and 
candor, from what we have said, that the Resurrection 
of Jesus Christ from the dead is one of the most im- 
portant of all the facts about the Christ of Whom God 
tells us in His Own Word and that any one who 
preaches any other Christ than the One Whose body 
was raised from the dead, 1s preaching an entirely dif- 
ferent Christ from the Christ of the Bible. 


II. THE MANNER OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS 
CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. 


We come now to a consideration of the Manner of 
the Resurrection of the Christ of the Bible. * Here 
again the Bible is unmistakably clear. 

1. Inthe first place, Jesus Christ did not raise Him- 
self from the dead, but God raised Him from the dead 
by the working of the strength of His might. This 
we are told for example, in Acts 2: 24, 32: 

“Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs 
of death: because it was not possible that He 
should be holden of it. . . . (32) This Jesus did 
God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses.” 

We are told again in Acts 10: 40: 

“Him God raised up the third day, and gave 
Him to be made manifest.” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 143 


Paul tells us the same thing in Rom. 10:9: 
“God raised Him from the dead.’ 
And Paul tells us this again in Eph. 1: 19, 20: 
“And what the exceeding greatness of His (i.e., 
God’s) power to us-ward who believe, according 
to that working of the strength of His might 
which He wrought in Christ, when He raised 
Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His 
right hand in the heavenly places.” 

It is not so much that Jesus Christ arose by the 
power of a life that dwelt in Him as that God raised 
Him up by an exercise of His power from without. 
It was God Who put forth the might, it was God Who 
“loosed the pangs of death.” Jesus Christ was raised 
by an act of power from without and not by the 
fullness of life within. He laid down His life to the 
fullest extent. He was dead, utterly dead, there was 
never a deader man in all this world’s history than 
He was; and it took the strength of God’s might to 
raise Him up. 

2. In the second place as regards the Manner of 
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Resurrection of 
Jesus Christ was of such a character that after His 
Resurrection from the dead He had a real Body: He 
had hands and feet, flesh and bones and all the appear- 
ance of a man, and after His Resurrection He ate 
and drank. We are told this over and over again in 
the various accounts of His Resurrection and in num- 
erous references to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
found in the Bible. For example, we are told in John 
205,27: 

“Then saith He to Thomas, Reach hither thy 


144 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


finger, and see My hands; and reach hither thy 
hand, and put it into My side: and be not faith- 
less, but believing.” 

We read in Acts 10: 40, 41: 

“Him God raised up the third day, and gave 
Him to be made manifest, not to all the people, 
but unto witnesses that were chosen before of 
God, even to us, who ate and drank with Him, 
after He rose from the dead.”’ 

Now turn to Luke’s account of the Resurrection, 
Luke 24: 41-43: 

“And while they still disbelieved for joy, and 
wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any- 
thing to eat? And they gave Him a piece of 
broiled fish, And He took it, and ate before 
them.” 

We read in the twenty-ninth verse of the same 
chapter : 

“And they constrained Him, saying, Abide 
with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is 
now far spent. And He went in to abide with 
them.” 

Now read Luke 24:15, 18: 

“And it came to pass while they communed and 
questioned together, that Jesus Himself drew 
near, and went with them. ... (18) And one 
of them, named Cleopas, answering said unto 
Him, Dost Thou alone sojourn in Jerusalem and 
not know the things which are come to pass there 
in these days?” 

John tells us in Jno. 20: 14, 15: 
“And when she (that is, Mary Magdalene) had 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 145 


thus said, she turned herself back, and beholdeth 
Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? 
whom seekest thou? She, supposing Him to be 
the gardener, saith unto Him, Sir, if Thou hast 
borne Him hence, tell me where Thou hast laid 
Him, and I will take Him away.” 

And we read in the two descriptions of His last ap- 
pearance to His disciples before His ascension into 
Heaven in Luke 24: 50, 51: 

“And He led them out until they were over 
against Bethany: and He lifted up His hands, and 
blessed them. And it came to pass, while He 
blessed them, He parted from them, and was car- 
ried up into heaven,” 

and Acts 1:9: 

“And when He had said these things, as they 
were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud re- 
ceived Him out of their sight.” 

Evidently and beyond all honest question the Resur- 
rection of Jesus Christ was entirely different from the 
shadowy appearances of the dead in the alleged ma- 
terializations of the spirits of the dead as exploited by 
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or any of the most expert 
modern mediums. The latter are well named 
“mediums.” They are mediums, medium between 
the Devil and his dupes. Thank God the believer in 
the Christ of the Bible is not dependent upon a de- 
generate medium but has a Divine Mediator, the Resur- 
rected Man in the glory. 

3. In the third place, as regards the Manner of 
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Resurrection of 


146 THE: CHRIST OF sbi BIBEr 


Jesus Christ was a Resurrection of the very Body that 
was nailed to the cross and died and was afterwards 
taken down from the cross and laid in Joseph's tomb, 
but was preserved from corruption and was raised 
from the dead and passed out of the tomb, leaving the 
sepulchre empty, and after the Resurrection still had 
the print of the nails in His hands and the hole left by 
the spear in His side. That is, the same Body that 
was crucified was raised. ‘This, the Bible declares re- 
peatedly in terms that cannot be mistaken or misunder- 
stood by any one who really desires to know the truth 
and not merely to bolster up a theory framed up by 
his own misguided imagination. 
Read Acts 2: 22-32: 

“Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of 
Nazareth, a man approved of God unto you by 
mighty works and wonders and signs which God 
did by Him in the midst of you, even as ye your- 
selves know; Him, being delivered up by the de- 
terminate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye 
by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay: 
Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs 
of death: because it was not possible that He 
should be holden of it. For David said concern- 
ing Him, 

I beheld the Lord always before my face; 

For He is on my right hand, that I should 
not be moved: 

Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue 
rejoiced ; 

Moreover my flesh also shall dwell in hope: 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 147 


Because Thou wilt not leave my soul unto 
Hades, 
Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to 
see corruption. 
Thou madest known unto me the ways of 
life ; 
Thou shalt make me full of gladness with 
Thy countenance. 
Brethren, I may say unto you freely of the 
patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, 
and his tomb is with us unto this day. Being 
therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had 
sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his 
loins He would set One upon his throne; he fore- 
seeing this spake of the resurrection of the 
Christ, that neither was He left unto Hades, nor 
did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God 
raise up, whereof we all are witnesses.”’ 
These verses tell us in the plainest possible terms 


that the Body of Jesus was crucified and afterwards 
taken down and laid in a tomb and preserved from 
corruption and that His Spirit went into Hades (not 
Hell, but Hades, the abode of the dead, righteous and 
unrighteous, until the ascension of Christ), but that 
the soul of Jesus was not left unto Hades but was 
brought back from Hades and that His Body was 
raised up, and soul and Body reunited. Read Mat- 
thew’s account in Matt. 28:5, 6: 


“And the angel answered and said unto the 
women, Fear not ye; for I know that ye seck 
Jesus, Who hath been crucified. He is not here; 


~ 


148 TE CHRIS DLORGGH Bs SEaioE: 


for He is risen, even as He said. Come, see the 
place where the Lord lay.” 

Here the angels tell the women at the tomb that 
the thing that they were looking for was not there. 
What were they looking for? Was it the spirit (or, 
soul) of Jesus? No, beyond a doubt they were look- 
ing for the Body of Jesus to embalm it. Then the 
angels go on to tell the women that what had been 
there was risen. What had been there? The spirit 
or soul of Jesus? No. It was the Body of Jesus that 
had been there. His soul had been in Hades and 
the angels say that the Body that had been there had 
been raised, and for that reason was there no longer, 
and they invited the women to come and inspect “the 
place where” the Body had lain. 

There is no room here for the theory of Pastor 
Russell of Millennial Dawn fame, that the Body of 
Jesus was not raised but simply the spirit, and that 
the Body was either taken away and deposited some- 
where for safe keeping or else evaporated into gases. 
Neither is there any room for the theory so widely 
taught in theological seminaries in America and in 
missionary universities in China and elsewhere, that 
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ was not a Resurrec- 
tion of His Body but a purely spiritual Resurrection, 
a Resurrection of His spirit. In order to believe that 
theory you must throw your Bibles into the fire. That 
would be far more honorable than to try to distort and 
twist the Bible’s utterances and try to make the plain 
declarations of the Bible mean something they did not 
say, in order to fit in with one’s own foolish imagin- 
ings. Now turn to Mark’s account in Mark 16:5, 6: 


TEE ORMRES OR HAE {BIBLE 149 


“And entering into the tomb, they saw a young 
man sitting on the right side, arrayed in a white 
robe; and they were amazed. And he saith unto 
them, Be not amazed: ye seek Jesus, the Naza- 
rene, Who hath been crucified: He is risen; He is 
not here: behold, the place where they laid Him!” 

The meaning of these words is unmistakable. The 
angelic message reads, “Ye seek Jesus, the Nazarene, 
Who hath been crucified.” Now, what about Jesus 
was “crucified”? Certainly His Body. Then he goes 
on to say, “He is risen; He is not here: behold, the 
place where they laid Him!’ What had been laid 
in that place that was now empty? Certainly the cru- 
cified Body of Jesus. And what was not there now? 
What was risen out of the place where it had lain? 
Beyond the possibility of an honest doubt or question, 
the Body of Jesus. THE ONLY RESURRECTION 
Bites wons ih; CHRIST OF GOD) THAT 
THE BIBLE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT OR 
TELLS ANYTHING ABOUT IS THE RESUR- 
RECTION OF THE BODY OF JESUS, the Body 
that had been nailed to the cross, that had been taken 
down from the cross and laid in Joseph’s tomb, the 
Body that had been laid in that very spot at which 
the women were now gazing, and which Body was 
no longer in that spot, or in the sepulchre. The only 
Resurrection of Jesus of which the Bible has one word 
to say is the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus, and 
those would-be wise men and the self-styled ‘modern 
scholars,” who say they believe in the Resurrection of 
Jesus, but in a merely spiritual Resurrection and not 
a Resurrection of His Body, are believing in an un- 


150 DHE CHRIST: OF THE BIBER 


substantial chimera of their own disordered and be- 
fuddled fancies for which there is not one shred of 
evidence, and instead of being ‘modern scholars” and 
scientific and philosophical rationalists, they are in 
reality merely modern empty dreamers and utterly 
bamboozled irrationalists, credulously believing some- 
thing for which there is not one smallest shred of his- 
torical evidence, or evidence of any other kind. 

Now read Luke’s account of the Resurrection of 
Jesus, the Christ of God, Luke 24: 3-7: 

‘“‘And they entered in, and found not the body 
of the Lord Jesus.’’ (What is it we are here 
told that they found not? These are Luke’s 
words, “found not the body of the Lord Jesus.” 
That is plain English, isn’t it? It is just as plain 
in the Greek). ‘And it came to pass, while they 
were perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood 
by them in dazzling apparel: and as they were 
affrighted and bowed down their faces to the 
earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living 
among the dead? He 1s not here,’ (What was 
not here? Verse three tells us that it was the 
body of the Lord Jesus that was not there). “He 
is risen: remember how He spake unto you when 
He was yet in Galilee, saying that the Son of man 
must be delivered up into the hands of sinful 
men, and be crucified, and the third day rise 
again.” 

The angel Himself said that what would rise again 
was what was “crucified.”” What was crucified? Cer- 
tainly it was the Body of Jesus that was crucified. 
What the Bible teaches is as plain as day; and it is also 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE I51 


as plain as day that what the Bible teaches is not what 
these would-be “‘scientific’ theologians who deny a 
Bodily Resurrection of Jesus and teach a merely 
spiritual Resurrection, teach. If it is true that “the 
modern mind can not believe in a Resurrection of the 
Body of Jesus, but does believe in a spiritual Resur- 
rection of Jesus,” then “the modern mind” is thor- 
oughly and hopelessly unscientific. | 

Now turn to John’s account of the Resurrection in 
John 20: 24-27: 

“But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didy- 
mus, was not with them when Jesus came. The 
other disciples therefore said unto him, We have 
seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I 
shall see in His hands the print of the nails, 
and put my finger into the print of the nails, and 
put my hand into His side, I will not believe. 
And after eight days again His disciples were 
within, and Thomas with them. Jesus cometh, 
the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and 
said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to 
Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and see My 
hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into 
My side: and be not faithless, but believing.” 

What was it that appeared in the room where 
Thomas and the rest were and that Jesus invited 
Thomas to investigate? Beyond a question, the Body 
of Jesus that had been crucified and that still bore the 
marks of the nails in His hands, and the spear thrust 
in the side. Each one of the four Gospels knew of no 
Resurrection except the Resurrection of the Body of 
Jesus, so that it is as clear as language can make tt, 


152 JHE CHRIS TOR THER Tp 


that the very Body that was nailed to the cross and 
afterwards taken down dead and laid in Joseph’s tomb, 
was preserved from corruption and was raised from 
the dead and passed out of the tomb, leaving the 
sepulchre empty, and after the Resurrection still had 
the prints of the nails in the hands and still had the 
hole left by the spear in the side: that is to say, that it 
was the same Body that was crucified that was raised. 

4. In the fourth place as regards the Manner of 
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, There was so great 
a change in the Body of Jesus Christ after His Resur- 
rection that it was not clearly recognizable at once even 
by His most intimate friends. It was the same Body, 
but the Body was not the same, it was greatly altered. 
This we see from John 21: 4, 12: 

“But when day was now breaking, Jesus stood 
on the beach: yet the disciples knew not that it 
was Jesus... . (12), Jesus saith unto them, 
Come and break your fast. And none of the 
disciples durst inquire of Him, Who art Thou? 
knowing that it was the Lord.” 

The same thing is evident from Luke 24:15, 16, 
ROR 

“And it came to pass, while they communed 
and questioned together, that Jesus Himself drew 
near, and went with them. But their eyes were 
holden that they should not know him. . . . (30, 
31) And it came to pass, when He sat down with 
them to meat, He took the bread and blessed; 
and breaking it He gave to them. And their eyes 
were opened, and they knew Him; and He van- 
ished out of their sight.” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 153 


5. In the fifth place as regards the Manner of the 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Resurrection Body 
of Jesus Christ was of such a character that He could 
appear in a room when the doors were shut, and could 
become invisible. The Resurrection Body of Jesus was 
not subject to some of the limitations under which or- 
dinary earthly human bodies now exist and act. This 
is evident from Jno. 20: 19, 26: 

“When therefore it was evening, on that day, 
the first day of the week, and when the doors were 
shut where the disciples were, for fear of the 
Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and 
saith unto them, Peace be unto you... . (26) 
And after eight days again His disciples were 
within, and Thomas with them, Jesus cometh, the 
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 
Peace be unto you.” 

Read also Luke 24: 31: 

“And their eyes were opened, and they knew 
Him; and He vanished out of their sight.’ 

The four Greek words translated “vanished out of 
their sight,” in this verse mean literally, “became in- 
visible from them.” 

6. In the sixth place as regards the Manner of the 
Resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Resurrection Body 
of Jesus Christ was of such a character that it could 
be taken up from the earth into Heaven in apparent de- 
fiance of the law of gravitation. This we see in Acts 
I:Q-II: 

“And when He had said these things, as they 
were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud re- 
ceived Him out of their sight. And while they 


154 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


were looking stedfastly into heaven as He went, 


behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; 
who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye 
looking into heaven? this Jesus, Who was received 
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like 
manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.” 

It is to be noted however, that we are not told that 
the body of Jesus ascended because of its own light- 
ness, but it was “taken up,’ and of course God could 
take up if He chose, an ordinary body. Indeed, we 
are told that “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into 
heaven” (2 Kings 2:11). 

7. In the seventh place, as regards the Manner of 


the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Body that Jesus © 


now has is a transformed Body, incorruptible, glorious, 
mighty, spiritual, heavenly, not flesh and blood. ‘This 
we see from a comparison of Phil. 3:20, 21 with 1 
Cor. 15: 42-50. Let me read Phil. 3:20, 21: 

“For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also 
we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 
Who shall fashion anew the body of our humilia- 
tion, that it may be conformed to the body of His 
glory, according to the working whereby He is 
able even to subject all things unto Himself.” 

Here we are told that our resurrection bodies are to 
be in the likeness of the Body of His glory, that is the 
Body He now has in the glory. So if we can find 
what the character of our resurrection body is to be we 
shall know just what the character of His Resurrection 
Body now is. The character of the resurrection bodies 
we are to have we are told in 1 Cor. 15: 42-50: 

“So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is 


DHE OHRISTOR THE BIBLE 155 


sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 
it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is 
sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is 
sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. 
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual 
body. So also it is written, The first man Adam 
became a living soul. The last Adam became a 
life-giving spirit. Howbeit that is not first which 
is spiritual, but that which is natural; then that 
which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, 
earthy: the second man is of heaven. As is the 
earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as 
is the heavenly, such are they also that are heav- 
enly. And as we have borne the image of the 
earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heav- 
enly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither 
doth corruption inherit incorruption.” 

While the Body of Jesus was not “flesh and blood,” 
He Himself declared in Luke 24: 31-40 that it was 
“flesh and bones.” His blood was shed on Calvary. 
The blood had been the life of His Body while on 
earth, just as our blood is the life of our bodies to-day, 
but at His resurrection His Spirit evidently became 
the life-giving and energizing power of His Body, 
and so shall it be with our glorified bodies at the resur- 
rection of our bodies when our Lord comes again. 
Won't it be great to have a body that is energized by, 
and under the complete sway of our glorified spirits? 
and such we shall have when Jesus Christ comes again. 
And that is infinitely better than the airy “ectoplastic’’ 
ghosts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s dopy dreamings. 


156 THE.CHRIST OF THE: BIBLE 


Sir Arthur has been so long immersed in the imaginary 
career and mental acuteness of Sherlock Holmes that 
he seems to have become incapable of dealing with 
real facts, solid and substantial facts, and has lost 
all power of distinguishing between entertaining fiction 
and solid fact. A man or woman with an overvivid 
imagination, or who has overworked his imagination, 
is always an unreliable witness, and unless he is very 
much on his guard is likely to degenerate into a con- 
summate liar. I have met in my life, some very pain- 
ful illustrations of this fact, of people who in other 
ways were exceptionally fine people. But anyway, 
what need have we of Conan Doyle’s fantastic fan- 
cies and weird and uncanny fantasies when we have 
the absolutely reliable and wonderfully inspiring (as 
well as undoubtedly inspired) records and revelations 
of the sure Word of God? 


III. THE RESULTS OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE 
CHRIST, OR WHAT DOES THE RESURRECTION 
OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD PROVE? 


We come now to a careful and thorough considera- 
tion of the vitally important question of the Results 
of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead; or, 
What Does the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
Dead Prove? 

1. In the first place, The Resurrection of the Body 
of Jesus Christ from the dead provides a solid and un- 
shakeable foundation of scientifically demonstrated 
historic fact for our belief in the existence of a per- . 
sonal God and that the God of the Bible, the God of 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 17 


both the Old Testament and of the New Testament, is 
the true God. This we are told in 1 Pet. 1: 18-21: 
“Knowing that ye were redeemed, not with 
corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your 
vain manner of life handed down from your 
fathers; but with precious blood, as of a lamb 
without blemish and without spot, even the blood 
of Christ: Who was foreknown indeed before the 
foundation of the world, but was manifested at 
the end of the times for your sake, who through 
Him are believers in God, that raised Him from 
the dead, and gave Him glory; so that your faith 
and hope might be in God.” 

Throughout at least twenty-five centuries of civilized 
history men have been looking for intellectually con- 
vincing, conclusive and decisive proofs of the existence 
and nature and character of God. They have devised 
the teleological argument, i.e., the argument from the 
marks of creative intelligence and design in the mate- 
rial universe, and also the historical argument, i.e., the 
argument from the many evidences of an intelligent 
and righteous guiding hand in human history, and 
the ontological argument, and other arguments. But 
all these arguments are philosophical in their char- 
acter, and more or less speculative, and at the best they 
point only to the strong philosophical probability that 
there is a personal, righteous and beneficent God. But 
in the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus Christ from 
the Dead, we have an incontrovertible fact of history 
that demands the existence of God to account for it, 
and that points with scientific certainty to the existence, 


158 THE CHRIST OF THE BISBEE 


power and holiness of the God Who raised Him. It” 
is one of the most elementary and universally accepted 
principles of modern science that every effect must 
have an adequate cause, and the only cause that is 
adequate to account for the Resurrection of the Body 
of Jesus Christ from the Dead is God, the God of the 
Bible. By the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus 
Christ from the Dead, our faith in the existence of 
God is removed from the domain of the merely specu- 
lative and probable into the domain of the scientifically 
proven and certain. 

Just how does the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus 
Christ from the dead prove the existence of God 
and that the God of the Bible, the God of the Old 
Testament as well as the God of the New Testament, 
is the true God? In this way: when Jesus Christ was 
here on earth He proclaimed God, the God of the Bible, 
the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (as He con- 
stantly spoke of Him), the God of the Old Testament 
as well as of the New Testament. He unhesitatingly 
asserted that after He Himself had been put to death 
this God Whom He proclaimed, the “God of Abraham, 
Isaac and Jacob,” the God of the Old Testament as 
well as of the New Testament, would raise Him from 
the dead the third day. This was indeed a stupendous 
claim to make. It was apparently an absurd claim. 
For centuries men had come and men had gone; they 
had lived for a longer or a shorter period on the earth 
and then had died, and as far as human observation 
went that was the end of them: and here one man 
after all these centuries of uniform experience, de- 
clared that His experience would be entirely different 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 19 


from that of all the countless millions of others who 
had gone before Him. He claimed that He would live 
and die as others did, but that He, unlike all the rest, 
would be raised again, to die no more. This claim 
appeared like the height of absurdity; but as a matter 
of historic fact He did die, and as a fact of absolutely 
certain history His Body was raised from the dead, 
just as He had proclaimed that it would be. And 
this fact of the Resurrection of His Body from the 
dead demonstrated that the God Whom He proclaimed, 
the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,” the God 
of the Old Testament as well as of the New Testa- 
ment, existed and was indeed God, and was the true 
and only God as He constantly asserted that He was. 
In the light of the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus 
Christ from the Dead, our belief in the existence of the 
God of the Bible is not merely a felicitous fancy or 
only a more or less probable theological guess; it is a 
firmly fixed faith resting upon an incontrovertibly firm 
fact: it is a well established scientific conviction. In 
the light of the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus 
Christ from the Dead, atheism and agnosticism in all 
their forms have absolutely no standing ground, they 
are scientific absurdities. 

Incidentally to this, the proven Resurrection of the 
Body of Jesus Christ from the Dead sounds the death 
knell to any doctrine of Evolution that teaches that 
every new thing that comes to be is entirely the result 
of development by purely natural laws and processes 
(without any interference from without by a personal 
God) from the things that already were. Beyond the 
possibility of intelligent and honest doubt the Resur- 


160 THE ‘CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


rection Body of Jesus Christ was not a development by 
natural law, by any inherent forces in the body that 
was crucified. The so-called ‘Modernist’ in the theo- 
logical world sees this very clearly, and that is the ulti- 
mate reason why these ‘““Modernists’” contend so vigor- 
ously against belief in the Virgin Birth of our Lord 
and against belief in the Resurrection of the Body of 
our Lord Jesus Christ. These ‘“Modernists’” are all 
committed irrevocably to an extreme doctrine of Evo- 
lution. Their whole reputation as thinkers and intelli- 
gent scholars depends upon the truth of that doctrine. 
If the Evolutionary Hypothesis falls, their reputation 
for scholarship and intelligence falls with it; and is 
forever shattered. They are committed to a doctrine 
of Evolution that rules out miracles and any interposi- 
tion of God by the bringing in of any new and higher 
manifestations of God’s power in nature or in man; 
and they see clearly that once prove the Virgin Birth 
of our Lord or the Resurrection of His Body from 
the dead and the whole Evolutionary Hypothesis col- 
lapses and falls in utter and hopeless ruin: it re- 
ceives its death blow. But the Resurrection of the 
Body of Jesus Christ from the dead is a conclusively 
demonstrated historic fact; and no mere theory, no 
matter how brilliant and fascinating that theory may 
be, and no matter how many great names it may sum- 
mon to its support, can stand against scientifically 
demonstrated facts. Belief in any extreme doctrine of 
evolution cannot co-exist in any logical and well- 
balanced mind with the belief in the Resurrection of 
the Body of Jesus Christ from the dead. But the 
Resurrection of the Body of Jesus Christ from the 


doe CHRIS OR THs BIBLE 161 


dead is entirely beyond any honest question. There- 
fore, every extreme, or all comprehending, doctrine of 
Evolution must go. It certainly will go. It is doomed 
beyond hope. 

2. In the second place, The Resurrection of the 
Body of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that Jesus, 
the Christ of God, was a Teacher sent from God, Di- 
vinely inspired and absolutely inerrant, who spoke the 
very words of God. How does the Resurrection of 
the Body of Jesus Christ from the dead prove that 
Jesus of Nazareth was a Teacher sent from God, 
Divinely inspired and absolutely inerrant, Who spoke 
the very Words of God? In this way: Jesus Christ 
while here on earth declared that He was a Teacher 
sent from God, that He was Divinely taught and abso- 
lutely inerrant, and that THE WORDS HE SPOKE 
WERE THE VERY WORDS OF GOD. He de- 
clared this time and time again in one form or an- 
other. Let me read you some of His utterances 
regarding this matter. 

First of all listen to Jno. 7: 16: 

“Jesus therefore answered them, and said, M y 
teaching is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” 

Again He said in Jno. 12: 49, 50: 

“For I spake not from Myself; but the Father 
that sent Me, He hath given Me a commandment, 
what I should say, and what I should speak. And 
I know that His commandment is life eternal: 
the things therefore which I speak, even as the 
Father hath said unto Me, so I speak.” 

In Jno. 14:24, he says: 

“He that loveth Me not keepeth not My Words: 


162 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBEE 


and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the 
Father's Who sent me.” 

Now here is the plainest possible declaration that 
the words which the apostles heard from Him were not 
His own words, but God the Father’s own words. 

In Jno. 3:34, we read: 

“He Whom God hath sent (that is, of course, 
Jesus Christ) speaketh the words of God: for He 
giveth not the Spirit by measure.” 

In John 17:8 on the night immediately preceding 
His crucifixion, the Lord Jesus declares in one of the 
most solemn moments of His earthly life, when He 
was speaking not to men but to God Himself: 

“The words which Thou gavest Me I have 
given unto them; and they received them, and 
knew of a truth that I came forth from Thee, and 
they believed that Thou didst send Me.” 

Here again is the plainest possible declaration on our 
Lord’s part that the very “words” that He spoke were 
God’s Own “words.” This was Jesus Christ’s un- 
doubted claim: His claim was that His “‘words’’ were 
the very “words” of God. This was a stupendous 
claim to make. But making this claim does not prove 
it to be true. Others have made similar claims; but 
the difference between their claims on this matter and 
the claim of Jesus Christ is that Jesus Christ substan- 
tiated His claim and no one else has ever substan- 
tiated his. God Himself unmistakably set His stamp 
of endorsement upon this astounding claim of Jesus 
Christ by raising Him from the dead. In the light 
of the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus Christ from 
the dead, those who question the infallible authority 


fae. 


Pee CURIS hy ORs nh ART BI BICE, 163 


and absolute inerrancy of Jesus Christ, including those 
who teach that during His earthly life “He emptied 
Himself” of His Divine wisdom and was subject to 
the same errors as other men of His day—lI say in 
the light of the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus 
Christ from the dead, those teachers who thus ques- 
tion the infallible authority and absolute inerrancy of 
Jesus Christ, have absolutely no logical standing 
ground. Furthermore in the light of the Resurrection 
of the Body of Jesus Christ from the dead, those sup- 
posedly “scholarly” Biblical critics who demand that 
we give up the authority and inerrancy of Jesus Christ 
and of the Bible and accept their authority and iner- 
rancy in their place, make themselves a laughing-stock 
to all intelligent, thoughtful and fair-minded men. 

3. In the third place, By the Resurrection of the 
Body of Jesus Christ from the dead a solid founda- 
tion of imdisputable, unassailable, impregnable and 
scientifically demonstrated fact is laid for our belief 
that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the Son of God 
im @ sense that no other person, either man or angel, 
1s or ever was the Son of God; that He was God mam- 
fest in human form; a Being to be trusted and obeyed 
and honored and worshiped even as God the Father 
1s trusted and obeyed and honored and worshiped. 

This was beyond a doubt the unhesitating claim of 
Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of the Bible, when He 
was here on earth. He says in Mark 12:5, 6 (see 
R.V.), that while all the prophets of the old dis- 
pensation, even the greatest, were “servants,” that He 
was the “Son,” the “beloved Son” and the “One (and 
only) Son” of God. 


164 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


He says in Jno. 10: 30: 

“T and the Father are One.” 

He even went so far as to say in Jno. 14:9: 

“He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” 

He demanded of His disciples that they put the same 
absolute faith and trust in Him that they put in God 
the Father. 

We see this in Jno. 14:1 where He says to His 
disciples when they were dismayed at the thought of 
the separation from Him: 

“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, 
believe also in Me.” (A.R.V.) 

Here is a clear demand that the disciples put the 
same absolute confidence in Him that they put in 
God. These words of His are found in what is to 
the majority of Christian people, the most precious 
chapter in the Bible; and, if you give up these words of 
Jesus you must give up the most precious chapter in 
the whole Bible. 

Jesus of Nazareth even went so far as to say in 
NON Sees 

“All men should honor the Son (that is, of 
course, Himself), even as they honor the Father.” 

This was indeed a stupendous claim to make. If 
not true, it was a blasphemous claim; and He Who 
made it, Jesus Christ our Lord, was in that case either 
the most daring and outrageous blasphemer in human 
history or else one of the most hopeless lunatics. But 
the claim was substantiated. God endorsed the claim 
by raising from the dead the one Who made it. 

Jesus Christ declared to the ecclesiastical rulers of 
the day that they would put Him to death for making 


THE: GHRIST OPS THE, BIBEE 165 


this claim, but that God would set His seal of endorse- 
ment upon the claim by raising Him from the dead. 
They did put Him to death for making the claim, 
but when the appointed and plainly and precisely pre- 
dicted hour was come the breath of God swept through 
that sleeping clay and God raised the One Who made 
the claim from the dead, and thus proclaimed to all 
mankind for all coming ages that this stupendous claim 
of Jesus Christ to being a Divine Person, equal to the 
Father, was true. By raising the Body of Jesus Christ 
from the dead God announced to all ages in a way 
more convincing and more satisfying than if He 
should speak with an audible voice from Heaven to- 
day, “Jesus Christ is My Only Son. He is so fully 
and completely Divine that to see Him is to see Me 
and all men should honor Him with exactly the same 
honor with which they honor Me.” 

As we have clearly seen, if we candidly face the 
facts in the case, we are compelled to admit the Resur- 
rection of the Body of Jesus Christ from the dead; 
and this admission of the Resurrection of the Body 
of Jesus Christ from the dead leads logically and in- 
evitably and inescapably to an unquestioning faith in 
His Deity. 

In the light of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead, Unitarianism in any of its forms, or 
any other system of thought that denies the real Deity 
of the Lord Jesus Christ has absolutely no logical 
standing ground, Unitarian conceptions of Jesus 
Christ fall to the ground in hopeless and irreparable 
ruin. 

4. In the fourth place, By the Resurrection of the 


166 THE ‘CHRIST OF THEY BiBin 


Body of Jesus Christ from the dead, God gives us His 
Own indubitable assurance that there is to be a Judg- 
ment Day and that the risen Jesus, the Christ of God, 
Christ Jesus, is to sit as the Judge in that Day. Paul, 
when he was speaking to that notable gathering of 
Epicurean and Stoic philosophers at the Areopagus, the 
most celebrated seat of Greek philosophy in his day, 
put it in this way, Acts 17:30, 31: 

“The times of ignorance therefore God over- 
looked; but now He commandeth men that they 
should all everywhere repent: inasmuch as He 
hath appointed a day in which He will judge the 
world in righteousness by the Man Whom He 
hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance 
unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the 
dead.” 

Here Paul declares that the Resurrection of Jesus 
Christ from the Dead was a God-given assurance that 
there was to be a judgment day and that Jesus Christ 
was to be the Judge in that day. 

How does God by raising the Body of Jesus Christ 
from the Dead, as it lay there in Joseph’s tomb outside 
of Jerusalem, give assurance to all men that God is to 
judge the world by this Man, Christ Jesus, Whom He 
raised from the Dead? In this way: When here on 
earth Jesus Christ declared that there was to be a 
Judgment Day and that He Himself was to be the 
Judge in that Day. He says in Jno. 5: 22, 27-29: 

“For neither doth the Father judge any man, 
but He hath given all judgment unto the Son.... 
(27-29) And He gave Him authority to execute 
judgment because He is Son of man. Marvel 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 167 


not at this: for the hour cometh, im which all that 
are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall 
come forth; they that have done good, unto the 
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, 
unto the resurrection of judgment.” 

Here is the clear and definite claim on the part of 
our Lord Jesus that there was to be a Judgment Day 
and that He Himself was to be the Judge. The eccle- 
siastical authorities of that day hated Jesus Christ for 
making this claim and put Him to death for making 
this claim (and the other claim involved in it, that of 
His Deity and of His equality with the Father) ; but 
before He was put to death Jesus Christ asserted that 
God would set the stamp of His endorsement upon this 
claim by raising Him from the dead. Men did put 
Him to death in the exact way that He predicted that 
they would, but God raised Him from the dead and in 
this way set the stamp of His endorsement upon the 
claim which men rejected. 

Now this Resurrection of the Body of Jesus Christ 
from the dead is an historic certainty and by raising 
Him from the dead God set His own seal to Jesus 
Christ’s claim that there was to be a Judgment Day 
and that Jesus Christ Himself was to be the Judge. 
The absolutely certain Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
in the past points forward with unerring finger to an 
absolutely certain Judgment Day in the future in which 
Jesus Christ is to sit as Judge. 

If men ask me how I know there is to be a Judg- 
ment Day in which Jesus Christ will judge the world 
in righteousness, I reply, “I know it because I know 
that Jesus Christ arose from the Dead.” Belief in 


168 THE CHRISTOF THE BIBLE 


the Judgment Day is no mere conjecture of theological 
speculation, it is a positive and proven faith founded 
upon a scientifically proven fact. It is a scientifically 
proven theorem, not a merely speculative theory. In 
the light of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
Dead, those who flatter themselves that they can go on 
in sin and not be called to strictest account for it, above 
all those who try to comfort themselves with the hope 
that they can continue in that most damning of all 
sins, the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and 
not be called to the sternest account in the future Day 
of Judgment, are flattering themselves with an abso- 
lutely baseless hope and are blindly dooming them- 
selves to an eternity of darkness and despair. 

5. In the fifth place, By the Resurrection of the 
Body of Jesus Christ from the dead, God declares to 
every believer in Jesus Christ that he is justified, that 
His Own absolutely perfect righteousness in Jesus 
Christ is put to the believer's account. 

Paul says this in Rom. 4: 24,25. These are his 
words: 

“Jesus our Lord . . . was delivered up for our 
trespasses, and was raised for our justification.” 

The Greek preposition twice translated “for in 
verse twenty-five should be translated in each case 
“because of” or ‘fon account of,’ and the verse would 
then properly read, “Who was delivered up because of 
our trespasses, and was raised because of our justifi- 
cation.” THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS 
CHRIST FROM THE DEAD POSITIVELY 
DEMONSTRATES THAT EVERY BELIEVER 
IN JESUS CHRIST IS JUSTIFIED. How does 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 169 


the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus Christ from 
the dead demonstrate that every believer in Jesus Christ 
is justified? In this way: when Jesus was here on 
earth He said that He would offer up His life a ransom 
for many. These are His words as found in Matt. 
20:28: 

“The Son of man came not to be ministered 
unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ran- 
som for many.” 

The hour came to offer up His life, and He offered 
it up on the Cross of Calvary “as a ransom” for us. 
Now He has offered to God an atonement for sins; 
but there still remains a question, Will God accept the 
atonement which has been thus offered? For three 
nights and three days that question remains unan- 
swered, Jesus’ body lies there in the grave cold and 
dead, but at last the long predicted hour arrives and 
the breath of God sweeps through that sleeping clay 
and Jesus, the Christ of God, arises triumphant from 
the dead and is exalted to the right hand of God the 
Father, and God thereby proclaims to the whole uni- 
verse, “I have accepted the atonement which Jesus, 
My Christ, has made.” By raising Jesus Christ from 
the dead God declared that He had accepted the pro- 
pitiation that Jesus Christ offered and thereby declared 
us righteous in His Own sight. 

When another agrees to settle for my responsibilities 
I always want to know whether the settlement has 
been accepted. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is 
God’s declaration that He has accepted and is satisfied 
with the settlement that Jesus Christ has made in my 
behalf. Therefore by that Resurrection I am declared 


170 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


righteous in God’s sight. I look at Jesus Christ upon 
the cross and I know that a propitiation has been 
offered to God, but I look at the empty tomb and the 
risen Christ and know that God has accepted the pro- 
pitiation that Jesus offered. In the light of the Resur- 
rection of the Body of Jesus Christ from the Dead we 
see clearly that there is pardon and justification for 
the vilest sinner that walks the earth, on the sole and 
single condition of faith in Him Who died on the cross 
in our behalf. 

Furthermore, when Jesus Christ died, He died as 
our Representative; when He arose, He arose as our 
Representative; when He ascended into Heaven, he 
ascended into Heaven as our Representative; when He 
took His seat at the right hand of the Father up 
yonder in the glory, He took His seat as my Repre- 
sentative and yours, and to-day that is our real posi- 
tion, seated together with Him “in the heavenlies.” 
(Biph)-20/17). 

As One risen, ascended, seated, Jesus Christ is de- 
clared to be God’s chosen, accepted and righteous One 
and all who are in Him are declared to be chosen, ac- 
cepted and righteous in Him. There no longer re- 
mains one single sin on me, if I am a real believer in 
Jesus Christ, no matter how many or how great my 
sins may have been. My sins may have been as high 
as the mountains, but in the light of the Resurrection 
of Jesus Christ from the Dead the atonement that 
covers them is as high as Heaven: My sins may have 
been as deep as the ocean, but in the light of the Resur- 
rection of the Body of Jesus Christ from the dead the 
atonement that swallows them up is as deep as eternity. 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 171 


To put it in the wonderful words of the Apostle Paul 
found in Acts 13: 38, 39: 

“Be it known unto you therefore (that is, be- 
cause of His Resurrection), brethren, that 
through this Man is proclaimed unto you remis- 
sion of sins: and by Him every one that beheveth 
is justified from all things.” 

6. In the sixth place, The Resurrection of the Body 
of Jesus Christ from the dead provides a foundation 
of solid and unassailable and impregnable fact for our 
belief that all who are united to Christ by a lwing 
faith shall live again; and that not only our spirits 
shall live again but that our bodies shall be raised from 
the grave and glorified. Paul puts it this way in 
1 Thess. 4: 14-16: 

“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose 
again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in 
Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say 
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that 
are alive, that are left unto the coming of the 
Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are 
fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall de- 
scend from Heaven, with a shout, with the voice 
of the archangel, and with the trump of God: 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we 
that are alive, that are left, shall together with 
them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the 
Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the 
Lord.” 

Paul puts precisely the same thought in different 
words in 2 Cor. 4:14: 

“Knowing that He that raised up the Lord 


172 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus, and shall 
present us with you.” 

The believer is so united to Jesus, the Christ of God, 
by a living faith that if He arose from the dead we 
also must arise from the dead some day. If the 
grave could not hold Him it cannot hold me. Praise 
God! 

For centuries men have been seeking proofs of im- 
mortality, of life after death. We have had the 
dreams of poets and speculations of theologians and 
philosophers to cheer us with the hope that we should 
live again; but the best of philosophical arguments only 
points to the probability of life after death, but in a 
matter like this the human heart craves and demands 
something more than probability—it demands cer- 
tainty. In the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 
dead we get something more than probability, we get 
absolute certainty, we get scientific demonstration of 
life beyond the grave, and of the Resurrection of the 
body. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ removes the 
hope of immortality from the domain of speculation 
and probability into the domain of scientific and abso- 
lute certainty. We know that there is life beyond the 
grave. 

While I was in England the most prominent of the 
“New Theology” men in that country declared, “Not 
a few are not at all sure that there is any life beyond 
the grave. They wish it could be proven. So do I. 
But we can do no more than infer it from the moral 
constitution of the universe.” I thank God, that this 
“Modernist” preacher was utterly wrong in his state- 
ment. Before the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus 


LHE | CHRIST OFV THE ‘BIBLE 173 


Christ from the dead, perhaps the best that we could 
do was to “infer it from the moral constitution of the 
universe,’ but since the Resurrection of the Body of 
Jesus Christ from the dead that is no longer true. In 
the light of His Resurrection it is no longer left to 
uncertain inference “from the moral constitution of 
the universe,” it is a scientifically proven fact. No 
further proof is needed. 

We know that God will raise us up because as a 
matter of historic certainty He raised Him up. 

As Paul puts it in Rom. 8:11: 

“Tf the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from 
the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Christ 
Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your 
mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth 
BVO: 

The Resurrection of the Body of Jesus Christ from 
the dead has robbed death of all its terrors for the be- 
liever. Instead of cringing in terror in the presence of 
death we triumphantly shout, ‘“O Death, where is thy 
sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?’ (1 Cor. 
15:55). 

By the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 
life after death and the resurrection of the body is 
scientifically demonstrated; and to any one who will 
calmly ponder the facts in regard to the Resurrection 
of Jesus Christ all unbelief or agnosticism in regard to 
the future life becomes an impossibility. 

In the Resurrection of the Body of Jesus Christ 
from the dead we have immeasurably better proof of 
life after death than in the supposed and shadowy ma- 
terializations of the spirits of the dead in darkened and 


174 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


skillfully prepared rooms, exploited by Sir Oliver 
Lodge and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and an endless list 
of mediumistic fakers, all of whom are sooner or later 
proven to be shameless tricksters and frauds. By the 
scientifically demonstrated Resurrection of the: Body of 
Jesus Christ from the Dead, Life after Death and the 
Resurrection of the Body are scientifically demon- 
strated. 

If any one will ponder the facts in regard to the 
Resurrection of the Body of Jesus of Nazareth, un- 
belief or agnosticism in regard to the future life, or 
the resurrection of the body, becomes an intellectual 
impossibility. In the light of the first Easter morning 
I go out into the cities of the dead where now lie 
asleep in Jesus the bodies of my father, my mother, 
my two brothers and two of my daughters and all my 
tears are wiped away, for I hear the Father saying, 
“Thy father shall live again, thy mother shall live 
again, thy brother shall live again, thy two children 
shall live again, clad with far greater beauty than 
was seen in their faces when they were here upon 
earth.” 

7- In the seventh place, The Resurrection of the 
Body of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that we 


have an ever-living High Priest at the right hand of 


God in the glory to continually make intercession for 

us and Who 1s therefore able to save to the uttermost 

those who come unto God through Him. This Paul 
tells us in Rom. 8: 34: 

“Who is He that condemneth? It is Christ 

Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from 


SS ee ee " 


JHE CHRIST OM THE BIBLE 175 


the dead, Who is at the right hand of God, Who 
also maketh intercession for us.” 

And God tells us again in Heb. 7: 25: 

“Wherefore also He is able to save to the utter- 
most them that draw near unto God through Him, 
seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for 
them.” 

The words, “to the uttermost’ are very expressive. 
Their literal force is “unto all completeness.” Salva- 
tion is begun by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ; it is 
continued by the Resurrection and consequent inter- 
cession of Christ. We have not only a Saviour Who 
died and so made a perfect atonement for sin, but 
we have also a Saviour Who arose and carried the 
blood He had shed on the cross into the Holy of 
Holies, into God’s own very presence, and He presents 
it there, and He ever lives to plead our cause in every 
new case of failure. 

Ass Ounwptits it in Tt Jno. 2: 1% 

“My little children, these things write I unto 
you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, 
we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus — 
Christ the righteous.” 

He always lives to plead our cause, if we are 
believers in Him; and so we are forever safe, for 
the Father heareth Him always (Jno. 11:42). In 
this unceasing intercession of the Risen Christ in our 
behalf lies our abiding security and our assurance 
of the ultimate perfect completeness of Christ’s work 
in us. 

8. In the eighth place, Because of the Resurrection 


176 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


of Jesus Christ every believer in Christ is joined to a 
risen Christ and therefore brings forth fruit to God in 
Ais daily life. Listen to the way Paul puts it in Rom. 
TAS 
“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also were made 
dead to the law through the body of Christ (that 
is through the death of His body on the cross) ; 
that ye should be joined to another, even to Him 
Who was raised from the dead, that we might 
bring forth fruit unto God.” 

The only living or doing or accomplishment in the 
Christian life that is effective or acceptable to God is 
through union with the Risen Christ. Through our 
union with the crucified Christ we get our pardon, our 
cleansing from guilt, our justification, our perfect 
standing before God: through union with the Risen 
Christ we get power for life and to bring forth fruit. 

One chief reason why there is so little of life and 
fruit bearing in many professedly Christian lives to- 
day is because there is so little knowledge of and so 
little meditation upon the Risen Christ. Paul tells us 
that we were raised together with Christ “through 
faith in the working of God Who raised Him from 
the dead” (Col. 2: 12), and he tells us in another place 
that we were raised with Him “So we also might 
walk in newness of life’ (Rom. 6: 4). 

The full power of Christ’s Resurrection we shall 
not know until we attain unto the Resurrection of the 
dead ourselves (Phil. 3:10, 11), but “the power of 
His Resurrection” in our moral and spiritual lives, be- 
getting us unto “newness of life’ and “fruit unto 
God” we may know even now by being “joined to Him 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 177 


Who was raised from the dead.”’ May I put to each 
one of you the question, Are you “joined to Another 
even to Him Who was raised from the dead”? Herein 
lies the whole secret of holy living, newness of life, vic- 
tory over sin, fruit unto God. 

9g. In the ninth place, The Resurrection of the Body 
of Jesus Christ from the dead proves that it is every 
believer's privilege to have daily, hourly and constant 
victory over sin. We are united, as we have just seen, 
not only to the Lord Jesus Who died and Who thus 
made perfect atonement for our sins and Who thus 
delivered us from the guilt of sin, but we are united 
to the Lord Jesus Who arose again and Who “ever 
liveth to make intercession for us,’ and Who there- 
fore “is able to save to the uttermost.” We are united 
to the One Who has power to keep us from falling 
day by day, the One Who “is able to guard us from 
stumbling and to present us before the presence of His 
glory without blemish in exceeding joy.” (Jude 24). 
In myself I am weak, utterly weak, unable to resist 
temptation for a single hour; but He is strong, in- 
finitely strong, and He ever lives to give me help and 
deliverance every day and every hour. The question 
of victory over sin is not at all a question of my weak- 
ness, it is entirely a question of His strength, His Res- 
urrection power which is always at my disposal. He 
has “all power in Heaven and on earth” (Matt. 
28:18), and what my risen Lord has belongs to me 
also. In the light of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
from the dead, failure in daily living is unnecessary 
and inexcusable. In His Resurrection, life and power 
it is our privilege and our duty to lead victorious lives: 


178 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


To use an illustration that I used some years ago 
on this platform and that is found in one of my 
books: Four men were once climbing the slippery and 
perilous side of the Matterhorn. First came a guide 
and then a tourist and then a second guide and then a 
second tourist, all roped together. The tourist in the 
rear lost his footing and slipped over the side of the 
mountain. The sudden pull on the rope carried the 
lower guide with him and he in turn carried the other 
tourist with him. Three men are now dangling over 
that dizzy cliff. But the guide who was in the lead, 
when he felt the first pull upon the rope, drove his pike 
into the ice, braced his feet and held fast. There they 
hang, three men dangling over that awful abyss and yet 
three men perfectly safe because tied to the man that 
stood fast. The first tourist regained his place upon 
the path, the guide regained his place and then the 
tourist in the rear regained his, and on and on, and up 
and up, they went in safety to the summit of the moun- 
tain. Just so the human race was ascending the icy 
cliffs of life. The first Adam lost his footing and 
was swept out over the abyss, he pulled the next after 
him and he the next and the next and so on until the 
whole human race hangs over the frightful abyss. 
But the second Adam, the Man in the glory, stands 
fast, and all who are united to Him by a living faith, 
even though dangling over the awful precipice, are 
safe, because tied to the Man in the glory. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE ASCENSION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE, 
AND HIS EXALTATION TO THE RIGHT HAND 
OF GOD THE FATHER 


The subject of this chapter is, The Ascension of 
Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, and His Exaltation to 
the Right Hand of God the Father. This is a sub- 
ject regarding which very little is said in most of our 
present day preaching. We do not in these days hear 
as much as we ought about the Resurrection of Jesus 
Christ, nothing like as much as was heard in the days 
of the apostles, and we hear practically nothing at all 
about His Ascension into Heaven. The Bible, how- 
ever, has much to say about it, and what it has to 
say is not only very instructive but also very cheer- 
ing, encouraging, gladdening and thrilling. If one 
wishes to “play the Glad Game”’ with thorough and 
continuous success, he needs to reflect much and often 
on our ascended Lord seated at the right hand of God 
the Father in the eternal glory. 

At the very outset let us look at ten passages of 
Scripture. First, Luke 24: 50-53: 

“And He led them out until they were over 
against Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, 
and blessed them. And it came to pass, while 
He blessed them, He parted from them, and was 
carried up into heaven. And they worshipped 

179 


180 Pah CHRIST OF THE BIB 


Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 
and were continually in the temple, blessing 
God.” 

In our second passage we are told of this same in- 
cident by this same person, Luke, with other suggestive 
and instructive details added. You will find the ac- 
count in Acts I: 7-11: 

“And He said unto them, It is not for you to 
know times and seasons, which the Father hath 
set within His Own authority. But ye shall 
receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon 
you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jeru- 
salem, and in all Judea and Samaria and unto 
the uttermost part of the earth. And when He had 
said these things, as they were looking, He was 
taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their 
sight, And while they were looking stedfastly 
into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood 
by them in white apparel; who also said, Ye men 
of Galilee, why stand ye looking into heaven? 
this Jesus, who was received up from you into 
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld 
Him going into heaven.” 

We turn now to Heb. 1: 1-4: 

“God, having of old time spoken unto the 
fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in 
divers manners, hath at the end of these days 
spoken unto us in His Son, whom He appointed 
Heir of all things, through Whom also He made 
the worlds; Who being the effulgence of His 
glory, and the very image of His substance, and 
upholding all things by the word of His power, 


THE CORIST; OR JAE BIBLE 181 


when He had made purification of sins, sat down 
on the right hand of the Majesty on high; hav- 
ing become by so much better than the angels, 
as He hath inherited a more excellent name than 
they.” 
Our fourth text is also from the Epistle to the 
Hebrews, Heb. 10: 10-13: 

“By which will we have been sanctified through 
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for 
all. And every priest indeed standeth day by day 
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sac- 
rifices, the which can never take away sins: but 
He, when He had offered one sacrifice for sins for 
ever, sat down on the right hand of God; hence- 
forth expecting till His enemies be made the foot- 
stool of His feet.”’ 

You will find our fifth text in Paul’s Epistle to the 
Ephesians, Eph. 1: 15-23: 

“For this cause I also, having heard of the faith 
in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the 
love which ye show toward all the saints, cease 
not to give thanks for you, making mention of 
you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto 
you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the 
knowledge of Him; having the eyes of your heart 
enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope 
of His calling, what the riches of the glory of 
His inheritance in the saints, and what the ez- 
ceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who 
believe, according to that working of the strength 
of His might which He wrought in Christ, when 


182 


DE CHRIST VOM bis Bi iaiite 


He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to 
sit at H1s right hand in the heavenly places, far 
above all rule, and authority, and power, and 
dominion, and every name that is named, not 
only in this world, but also in that which is to 
come: and He put all things in subjection under 
His feet, and gave Him to be head over all 
things to the church, which is His body, the full- 
ness of Him that filleth all in all.” 


Now let us look at three passages all from the same 
book, the Epistle to the Hebrews, the book that has 
perhaps more to say about the Ascension and Exalta- 
tion of Jesus, the Christ of God, than any other book 
in the Bible. 

Heb. 6: 18-20: 


“That by two immutable things, in which it is 
impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong 
encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay 
hold of the hope set before us: which we have as 
an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and sted- 
fast and entering into that which is within the 
veil; whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for 
us, having become a high priest for ever after the 
order of Melchizedek.” 


Heb? 7 22-28% 


“By so much also hath Jesus become the surety 
of a better covenant. And they indeed have been 
made priests many in number, because that by 
death they are hindered from continuing: but He, 
because He abideth for ever, hath His priesthood 
unchangeable. Wherefore also He is able to save 
to the uttermost them that draw near unto God 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 183 


through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make in- 
tercession for them, For such a high priest be- 
came us, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from 
sinners, and made higher than the heavens; Who 
needeth not daily, like those high priests, to offer 
up sacrifices, first for His own sins, and then for 
the sins of the people: for this He did once for 
all, when He offered up Himself. For the law 
appointeth men high priests, having infirmity; but 
the word of the oath, which was after the law, 
appointeth a Son, perfected for evermore,” 
Heb. 9: 21-24: 

“Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of 
the ministry he sprinkled in like manner with the 
blood. And according to the law, I may almost 
say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart 
from shedding of blood there is no remission. It 
was necessary therefore that the copies of the 
things in the heavens should be cleansed with 
these; but the heavenly things themselves with 
better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered 
not into a holy place made with hands, like in 
pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to 
appear before the face of God for us.” 

For our ninth passage we turn to the Gospel of John, 
qno. 14712 

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that be- 
lieveth on Me, the works that I do shall he do 
also; and greater works than these shall he do; 
because I go unto the Father.” 

The last passage is the one that sets forth most 
vividly and luminously the heights from which Jesus, 


184. THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE © 


the Chiist of God, descended when He came into this 
world, the depths to which He descended in order to 
save you and me, and the heights to which He is now 
exalted, Phil. 2: 6-11: 

“Who, existing in the form of God, counted 
not the being on an equality with God a thing to 
be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form 
of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; 
and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled 
Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, 
the death of the cross. Wherefore also God 
highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the name 
which is above every name; that in the name of 
Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven 
and things on earth and things under the earth, 
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus 
Christ 1s Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

That we have so many passages, and in some cases 
such long passages, may indicate to you how full the 
Bible is of this interesting and important subject; but 
even so I shall have to refer to still other passages 
before we get through. What we shall have to say 
on this vitally important subject we will group under 
four heads: 

I. The Fact of the Ascension and Present Exalta- 
tion of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible. 

II. The Manner of the Ascension and Present 
Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible. 

III. The Purpose of the Ascension and Present 
Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible. 

IV. The Results of the Ascension and Exaltation 
of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, or What the Ascen- 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 185 


sion and Present Exaltation and Glory of Jesus Christ 
Means to You and Me. 

I cannot hope to tell you all that the Bible has to 
say on this great and glorious subject, but I do expect 
to tell you enough to cause you to arise from reading 
this chapter with a very glad and jubilant heart, and 
with an increased sense of what a wonderful Saviour 
we have, and with an increased desire to serve Him, 
and with a very vivid realization of the great power 
for service that is at the disposal of the weakest be- 
liever in Jesus Christ, our risen, ascended and exalted 
Lord and Saviour. 


I. THE FACT OF THE ASCENSION AND PRESENT 
EXALTATION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF GOD. 


First of all then, let us look at the Fact of the Ascen- 
sion of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, and of His 
Present Exaltation and Glory. Let us read again the 
first four of the passages cited. Luke 24: 50-53: 

“And He led them out until they were over 
against Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and 
blessed them. And it came to pass, while He 
blessed them, He parted from them, and was 
carried up into heaven. And they worshipped 
Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 
and were continually in the temple, blessing God.” 

Acts 1: 7-11: 

“And He said unto them, It is not for you to 
know times and seasons, which the Father hath 
set within His Own authority. But ye shall re- 
ceive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon 


186 


THE: CHRIST) ORV BIBICE 


you: and ye shall be My witnesses both in Jeru- 
salem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto 
the uttermost part of the earth, And when He 
had said these things, as they were looking, He 
was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of 
their sight. And while they were looking sted- 
fastly into heaven as He went, behold, two men 
stood by them in white apparel; who also said, 
Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into 
heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye 
beheld Him going into heaven.” 


Hebstirieyae | 


“Who being the effulgence of His glory, and 
the very image of His substance, and upholding 
all things by the word of His power, when He 
had made purification of sins, sat down on the 
right hand of the Majesty on high; having become 
by so much better than the angels, as He hath 
inherited a more excellent name than they.” 


Heb. 10: 10-13: 


“By which will we have been sanctified through 
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for 
all. And every priest indeed standeth day by 
day ministering and offering oftentimes the same 
sacrifices, the which can never take away sins: 
but He, when He had offered one sacrifice for 
sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 
henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the 
footstool of His feet.” | 


Let me add to these a passage which I did not 
cite before, Eph. 4: 8-10: 


PHEVCHRS DOR Tok BIBER 187 


“Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on 
high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts 
unto men. (Now this, He ascended, what is it 
but that He also descended into the lower parts 
of the earth? He that descended is the same also 
that ascended far above all the heavens, that He 
might fill all things.)” 

The first of these verses is a quotation from the 
Sixty-eighth Psalm, the eighteenth verse, where we 
have an Old Testament prediction of the future Ascen- 
sion of the Christ of God. In all of these passages 
taken together we have a plain declaration from God 
Himself, that His Christ, the only true Christ, Christ 
Jesus, after having descended into the earth in order 
to make atonement for our sins, having fully accom- 
plished that atoning work, has ascended and been re- 
ceived into Heaven again and is now seated in the place 
of authority and power, “on the right hand of the 
Majesty on high.” Some of the professedly and sup- 
posedly “‘scholarly’ modernists tell us that the Ascen- 
sion of the Lord Jesus is mentioned only in two ob- 
scure passages, which they try to discredit and explain 
away. By saying this they simply illustrate anew their 
dense ignorance of the Book upon which they seek to 
discourse in such a learned way. Even though it were 
mentioned only once, if that passage were to any can- 
did mind perfectly clear in its meaning, that would 
be enough to establish the fact. But in point of actual 
fact the Ascension or Exaltation of Jesus Christ is 
spoken of thirty-three or more times in the New 
Testament. Yes, BEYOND ANY INTELLIGENT 
DOUBT THERE IS A MAN TO-DAY UP 


188 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


YONDER IN THE GLORY seated “on the right 
hand of the Majesty on high.’ And that Man is 
the One Who became Man in order that He might 
bear our sins in His Own Body on the cross and thus 
put them away forever. And He is the One Who 
was our Representative when He died on the cross, 
and so we died in Him; and just so now He is our 
Representative and we, every one of us who is united 
to Him by a living faith, are seated up there in Him. 
That is our real position even while we tarry here 
a while. Are you not glad that you believe in Him? 
And you who are not united to Him by a living faith, 
will you not put your faith in Him right now? 


II. THE MANNER OF THE ASCENSION AND EXALTA- 
TION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF GOD. 


Now let us consider the Manner of the Ascension 
and Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible. 

1. In the first place, Jesus Christ was taken up into 
heaven while the disciples were looking and received 
out of their sight: that is to say that, The taking up of 
Jesus into heaven was a literal, visible taking up of 
His Resurrection Body into Heaven. ‘This we are 
told in Luke 24:51 and in Acts 1:9. 

These are Luke’s words: 

“And it came to pass, while He blessed them, 
He parted from them, and was carried up into 
heaven.” 

“And when He had said these things, as they 
were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud re- 
ceived Him out of their sight.” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 189 


He was carried up by a power from without, the 
power of God; the same hand and the same power 
that raised His body from the grave, exalted Him and 
carried that body up to His Own right hand in the 
glory. 

2. In the second place, The glory to which Jesus, 
the Christ of God, has been exalted is the same glory 
that He had with the Father from all eternity until He 
voluntarily chose to give up that glory and to empty 
flimself and come down to this world to die a felon’s 
death on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 
This we see from the prayer He Himself offered on 
the night before His crucifixion, Jno. 17:5: 

“And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with 
Thine Own Self with the glory which I had with 
Thee before the world was.” 

Thank God, my Saviour now has back again the 
Divine glory that He gave up to redeem and save 
me. Oh, sometimes when I think of what Jesus sac- 
rificed and suffered for me, when I see Him on the 
cross, suffering, tortured, deserted of all friends, and 
mocked at by that heartless, cruel mob, deserted even 
of the Father because He took my place, heart break- 
ing under the strain, my heart is filled with agony; 
and then I hear that triumphant cry from the cross, 
“Tt is finished,” and then I see Him risen from the 
dead, ascending into Heaven and then seated in the 
glory, on “the right hand of the Majesty on high,” 
again on the right hand of the Father, and then relief 
and joy and jubilant exultation at His Exaltation fills 
my heart. How much we miss by not thinking more 
about it. 


190 DHE CHRIST ON CBE BLA 


He is no longer on the cross, no longer even walk- 
ing this earth as the risen One: No, He is seated up 
yonder at the Father’s own right hand, far above all 
heavens (Eph. 1:20; Heb.) 7212654; 24) payne do 
R.V.), He is now exalted “far above all rule, and 
authority, and power, and dominion, and every name 
that is named, not only in this world, but also in that 
which is to come” (all the heavenly hierarchies of 
angelic hosts), and all things have been put “in sub- 
jection |! under | THis) feet.?)4 GE phy) 1320-22) 
2:Q-11). Praise God! 


IlI. THE PURPOSE OF THE ASCENSION AND EXAL- 
TATION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF GOD. 


Now let us consider the Purpose of the Ascension 
and Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible. Here 
we shall not be able to say all that might well be said,* 
but some things we must mention. 

1. In the first place, Jesus Christ was exalted to 
enter heaven as a Forerunner for us and to open to 
us the gates of heaven by presenting His atoning blood 
in Heaven, and by His high-priestly intercession. This 
we are told in Heb. 6: I9, 20: 

“Which we have as an anchor of the soul, a 
hope both sure and stedfast and entering into 
that which is within the veil; whither as a Fore- 
runner Jesus entered for us, having become a 
High Priest for ever after the order of Mel- 
chizedek.”’ 

Jesus entered Heaven nearly nineteen centuries ago 


1T have gone into it fully and in detail in “What the Bible 
Teaches.” 


Wit GOR S TOR THE Bibi IOI 


that I too might enter Heaven some day. He went 
there as my “Forerunner,” and some day I am to sit 
down with Him upon His throne even as He now has 
sat down with the Father on His throne. Listen to 
what He Himself says in Rev. 3: 20-22: 

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if 
any man hear My voice and open the door, I will 
come in to him, and will sup with Him, and He 
with Me. He that overcometh I will give to him 
to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also over- 
came, and sat down with My Father in His throne. 
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit 
saith to the churches.” 

I would like to linger here, but we must pass on. 

2. In the second place, Jesus Christ is ascended into 
heaven to prepare heaven itself as an abode for His 
Own. This our Lord Jesus Himself declared to His 
disciples for their comfort the night before He left 
them. You will find His words in Jno. 14:1, 2: 

“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in 
God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house 
are many mansions; if it were not so, I would 
have told you; for I go to prepare a place for 
you.” 

The question at once arises in our minds, How does 
the ascended Christ prepare heaven for His blood- 
bought people? God’s Own answer to this question is 
found in Heb. 9: 21-24: 

“Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of 
the ministry he sprinkled in like manner with the 
blood. And according to the law, I may almost 
say, all things are cleansed with blood, and apart 


192 THE ‘CHRIST ORVERE SIRE 


from shedding of blood there is no remission, It 
was necessary therefore that the copies of the 
things in the heavens should be cleansed with 
these; but the heavenly things themselves with 
better sacrifices than these. For Christ entered 
not into a holy place made with hands, like in pat- 
tern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to 
appear before the face of God for us.” 

It is evident from these words, to say nothing of 
other passages where it is plainly taught, that heaven 
itself has been defiled by sin and must be sprinkled 
with blood to be fitted to be the abode of blood- 
sprinkled sinners, and that Jesus entered into heaven 
to present His cleansing blood there, just as the high 
priest, once a year, entered into the Holy of Hollies, 
the type of heaven. There may be, for all I know, 
other ways also in which Jesus, our Forerunner and 
High Priest, is getting heaven ready for you and 
me. 

3. In the third place, Jesus Christ ascended and 
entered into heaven to now appear before the face of 
God in our behalf, 1.e., to act as High Priest on our be- 
half, to present His blood, the blood of atonement, and 
make intercession for us. This, we are told in Heb. 
Q: 24: 

“For Christ entered not into a holy place made 
with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into 
heaven itself, now to appear before the face of 
God for us.” 

4. In the fourth place, Jesus Christ ascended into 
heaven and sat down on the right hand of God to 
expectantly await the complete subjection of Hts 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 193 


enenues and the restoration of all things. This, we 
are told in a number of passages, for example, Heb. 
IG Te yrR' 

“But He, when He had offered one sacrifice for 
sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 
henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the 
footstool of His feet.’ 

We learn the same great truth from Peter’s sermon 
on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2: 34, 35: 

“For David ascended not into the heavens: but 
he saith himself, 

The Lord said unto my Lord, 

Sit Thou on My right hand, 

Till I make Thine enemies the footstool 
of Thy feet.” 

Peter declared the same truth again in the next 
chapter, Acts 3: 19-21: 

“Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your 
sins may be blotted out, that so there may come 
seasons of refreshing from the presence of the 
Lord; and that He may send the Christ Who 
hath been appointed for you, even Jesus: Whom 
the heaven must receive until the times of restora- 
tion of all things, whereof God spake by the 
mouth of His holy prophets that have been from 
of old.” 

When the time of the complete subjection of the 
enemies of Jesus Christ and of the restoration of all 
things arrives, Jesus, the Christ of God, will come 
forth and His enemies shall be quickly subdued unto 
Him. 

5. In the fifth place, Jesus Christ ascended far 


194 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


above the heavens that He might fill all things. This 
we see in Eph. 4: 10: 

“He that descended is the same also that 
ascended far above all the heavens, that He might 
fill all things.” 

By His descending into the earth, and then after 
His death into Hades, and then by His Return from 
Hades and the Resurrection of His Body, and by His 
Ascension in His resurrection body into Heaven, He 
became Lord of heaven and earth and hell. 

6. In the sixth place, God highly exalted our Lord 
Jesus and gave unto Him a name which 1s above every 
name in order that at the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth, 
and things under the earth, and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ 1s Lord to the glory 
of God the Father. This we are told in Phil. 2: 9-11: 

“Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and 
gave unto Him the name which 1s above every 
name ; that at the name of Jesus every knee should 
bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and 
things under the earth, and that every tongue 
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
glory of God the Father.” 


IV. THE RESULTS OF THE ASCENSION.AND EXAL- 
TATION OF JESUS, THE CHRIST OF, GODe OR: 
WHAT THE ASCENSION OF JESUS VCHRIS® 
MEANS TO US TO-DAY. 


We come now to the last division of our subject, 
and the one that is of the greatest practical importance 
to us, and the one that must thrill our hearts with joy 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 195 


unspeakable and full of glory, and fill them with 
boundless hope, and stir them with enthusiastic deter- 
mination to go forth and work as never before for 
our Crucified, Risen and Ascended Lord, now seated 
at the right hand of the Majesty on high: the Results 
of the Ascension and Exaltation of Jesus, the Christ 
of God, or What the Ascension of Jesus Christ Means 
to Us To-day. 

I. In the first place, In the Ascension and E-xalta- 
tion of Jesus Christ we see the exceeding greatness of 
God’s power to us-ward. This Paul tells us in Eph. 
I: 18-20: 

“Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, 
that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, 
what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in 
the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of 
His power to us-ward who believe, according to 
that working of the strength of His might which 
He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from 
the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand 
in the heavenly places.” 

Do you want to know what God can do for every 
one who is in Christ, what He can do for you, if you 
are a true believer in Jesus Christ? If you do, just 
look at what He has already done in Jesus Himself 
when He raised Him from the dead, carried Him up 
bodily into Heaven, and made Him to sit at His own 
right hand in the heavenly places. That shows “the 
exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who be- 
heve,’ the exceeding greatness of His power toward 
you and me, what He can do for you and me, and 
what He will do for you and me. Does it not take 


196 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


your breath away? But however overwhelming and 
incredible it may appear, that is what the Book says. 
Compare that with the vague and vapory future in 
store for you of which Sir Oliver Lodge and Sir 
Arthur Conan Doyle try to descant in such eloquent 
language. And yet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle says that 
his man-made religion, or demon-made religion, is 
better and loftier than Christianity. He says that 
“Christianity is dead,’ poor, deluded, spiritualistic 
dupe. 

2. In the second place, Because of the Ascension 
and Exaltation of Jesus Christ, we have a High Priest 
Who “ever liveth to make intercession for us’ and 
Who can “save to the uttermost all those that draw 
near unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to 
make intercession for us.” This precious truth is set 
forth and emphasized in Heb. 7:25: 

“Wherefore also He is able to save to the utter- 
most them that draw near unto God through Him, 
seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for 
them.” 

The words, “to the uttermost,’ are very expressive. 
Their literal force is “unto all completeness.’ Salva- 
tion is begun by the atoning blood of Jesus Christ, it is 
continued and completed by the Resurrection and 
Ascension and consequent Intercession of Christ. We 
have not only a Saviour Who died and in that way 
made a perfect atonement for our sins, but we have 
also a Saviour Who arose and ascended into heaven, 
and carried the blood He had shed on the cross into 
the Holy of Holies, into God’s Own very Presence, 
and He presents it there and He ever lives to plead 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE __107 


our cause in every new case of failure. As John 
putsitin 7 Yno.<2e1: 

“My little children, these things write I unto 
you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, 
we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus 
Christ the righteous.” 

He always lives to plead our cause (if we are be- 
lievers in Him) and so we are forever safe, for the 
Father heareth Him always (Jno. 11:42). In this 
unceasing intercession on our behalf of the risen and 
ascended Christ lies our abiding security and our as- 
surance of the ultimate perfect completeness of Christ’s 
work in us. 

3. In the third place, Through the Exaltation of 
Jesus Christ we have an High Priest Who has passed 
through the heavens and is now in the very Presence 
of God, and therefore we can hold fast our confession 
and draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace. 
Let me read it to you from God’s Own Word. Heb. 
4: 14-16: 

“Having then a great High Priest, Who hath 
passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, 
let us hold fast our confession. For we have not 
a High Priest that cannot be touched with the 
feeling of our infirmities; but One that hath been 
in all points tempted like as we are yet without 
sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness 
unto the throne of grace, that we may receive 
mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of 
need.” 3 

Have you any temptation in these times of apostasy 
when so many (even many church members and church 


198 THE CHRIS TOORGL Hib ire 


officers and even preachers and theological professors ) 
are becoming traitors to our Divine Lord, to join the 
boastful and boisterous gang and forsake your Lord 
with this pretentious pirate crew? Remember your 
Lord Jesus, not only risen, but ascended into the glory, 
seated “at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” 
and “hold fast (your) confession.” 

Are there times when you try to draw nigh to God 
in prayer and when Satan whispers (or hisses) into 
your ear, “You are not fit to draw near to God, He 
won’t hear your prayers”? Remember your High 
Priest, Jesus in the glory, in the very Presence of God, 
pleading for you, and tell Satan to his face, “No, I 
am not worthy; but He is worthy and He can be 
and is ‘touched with the feeling of my infirmities,’ and 
HE is in the very Presence of God pleading for me,” 
and then, turning your back upon Satan, “draw near 
with boldness unto the throne of grace, that (you) 
may receive mercy and may find grace to help (you) 
in time of need.” 

If ever we have any hesitation or fear in our ap- 
proach to God, all we have to do is to remember our 
risen and glorified Saviour, bearing in mind He is 
our great High Priest in the very Presence of God, 
at the very “right hand of the throne of the Majesty 
in the heavens” (Heb. 8:1). 

4. In the fourth place, Because of His E-xaltation, 
Jesus Christ has received from the Father the promise 
of the Holy Spirit and has poured Him forth upon 
His believing and obedient children, thus giving gifts 
for service unto men, Read Jesus’ Own Words and 
John’s comment on them in John 7: 37-39: 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 199 


“Now on the last day, the great day of the 
feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man 
thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that 
believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, from 
within shall flow rivers of living water. But this 
spake He of the Spirit, which they that believed 
on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not 
yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.” 
But He is glorified now. 

And read also our Lord Jesus’ Words in John 16:7: 

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is ex- 
pedient for you that I go away; for if I go not 
away, the Comforter will not come unto you; 
but if I go, I will send Him unto you.” 

Now listen to Peter as he spoke on the Day of 
Pentecost, Acts 2:33: 

“Being therefore by the right hand of God 
exalted, and having received of the Father the 
promise of the Holy Spirit, He hath poured forth 
this, which ye see and hear.” 

Put alongside of these words of Peter, Paul’s words 
also, in Eph. 4:8: 

“Wherefore He saith, 

When He ascended on high, he l\ed captivity 
captive, 
And gave gifts unto men.” 

IT IS THE ASCENDED CHRIST WHO BAP- 
TIZES WITH THE HOLY GHOST AND IT IS 
NOW POSSIBLE FOR EVERY ONE, EVEN 
THE HUMBLEST BELIEVER IN JESUS 
CHRIST, TO BE BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY 
GHOST BECAUSE HE IS ASCENDED, AND 


200 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


WE DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT AS DID THE 
APOSTLES ‘AND THEIR: ASSOCIATES \TEN 
DAYS TIEL (PENTECOST) EAD tah Cee 
COME.” PENTECOST NOW HAS ALREADY 
COME. Jesus Christ is now in the glory, He has 
already received the Holy Spirit for us and can shed 
Him forth upon us the moment we fulfill the condi- 
tions, without any hypnotic “tarrying meetings,” or 
tarryings of any kind whatever. I have seen multi- 
tudes in America and in Japan and in Germany (in 
one of the Royal chapels in Berlin) filled with the 
Holy Ghost the moment they believed. 

5. In the fifth place, Because of the Exaltation of — 
Jesus Christ, those who believe in Him receive power 
fo do greater works than He Himself wrought during 
the days of His humiliation. Our Lord Himself told 
this to His disciples in one of the most remarkable 
utterances that ever fell from His lips. You will find 
it in John 14: 12: 

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that be- 
lieveth on Me, the works that I do shall he do 
also; and greater works than these shall he do; 
because I go unto the Father.” 

During His life here on earth Jesus, the Christ of 
God, lived in His humiliation. He is now ascended 
and in full possession of His Divine glory and “all 
authority hath been given unto” him in heaven and 
on earth (Matt. 28:18, R.V.), and we are now united 
to an ascended and glorified Christ, Who possesses 
all power in heaven and on earth, and, therefore, we 
can do greater things than He Himself wrought dur- 
ing the days of His humiliation, while living here upon 


DHEA CHRISTIN ObvHE BIBLE 201 


earth. We may now know Christ, not as He was after 
the flesh, i.e., as He was in His humiliation, but as 
He is now, in His glory (2 Cor. 5: 16). 

As interpreted by the experience of the apostles, 
these “greater works’ that the Lord Jesus promised 
that they would accomplish because of His Ascension 
to the Father, were not in the line of physical miracles, 
such as the healing of the sick. In point of fact along 
that line their works were not comparable to the works 
of the Lord Jesus during His earthly ministry. The 
“greater works” were along a far higher and far more 
important line, the line of spiritual healing and spiritual 
resurrection, the resurrection of the multitude of souls 
once dead because of their trespasses and sins (Eph. 
2:1-8). Because He had ascended and consequently 
received the Holy Spirit from the Father and shed 
Him forth on them at Pentecost, the Apostles won 
more souls in one day than He won in all the years 
of His ministry. 

Some to-day try to excuse the fruitlessness of their 
ministry in soul-winning by saying that Jesus Himself 
had only a hundred and twenty converts, or, at the 
most, five hundred converts, as a result of His entire 
ministry; but they forget that at that time He was in 
His humiliation and that the Holy Spirit was not yet 
come, because He was not yet glorified, but that He 
now is in the glory and we are united to an ascended 
Christ in the glory, Who has received from the Father 
the Holy Spirit for His people and baptizes His people 
with the Holy Spirit. 

6. In the sixth place, By the Evaltation of Jesus 
Christ, all things have been put into subjection under 


202 THE CHRIST. OF THE BIBLE 


His feet and He has been made head over all things 
to the church. Here is the way the Holy Spirit speak- 
ing through the Apostle Paul, puts it in Eph. 1: 20-22: 
“Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised 
Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His 
right hand in the heavenly places, far above all 
rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and 
every name that is named, not only in this world, 
but also in that which is to come: and He put all 
things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him 

to be head over all things to the church.” 

We each one of us have as our Saviour, and High 
Priest, and the Church as a body has as its head, One 
to Whom all things in heaven and on earth and under 
the earth are in subjection. Even all the heavenly 
hosts and the hierarchies of “angels and authorities 
and powers” have been “made subject unto Him,” as 
We TEAGsiN I, Peruaiatne ss 

“Jesus Christ, Who is on the right hand of 
God, having gone into heaven; angels and authori- 
ties and powers being made subject unto Him.” 

By His Incarnation Jesus was made lower than the 
angels: by His Ascension He was made higher than 
all the angels, and not only so, but higher than the 
highest ranks of angelic hosts, “authorities,” and 
“powers” (all “angels,” all ‘authorities’ and all 
“powers” have been “‘made subject unto Him’). Hal- 
lelujah! what a Saviour! What a contrast between 
this Saviour, the Christ of the Bible, and the petty 
“Man of Galilee’ of Unitarianism and “The New 
Theology”; and yet these puerile dreamers of dreams 
(largely pipe dreams) call us who preach the fully 


Trey CHRIS brOb CEE BT Bick 203 


Divine and altogether glorious Saviour, the Christ 
of the Bible, “obscurantists.””’ This name as applied 
to us is a glaring lie. We obscure nothing; no, rather 
we are trying to make clear the full glory of our 
Divine Lord. They, themselves, obscure the Divine 
glory of this One Who is now seated at the right hand 
of the Majesty on high, angels and authorities and 
powers being made subject unto Him; they seek to 
reduce Him to the level of their own paltry and pitiable 
pettiness. 

7. In the seventh place, Because of the Exaltation 
of Jesus Christ, “in the name of Jesus every knee shall 
(ultimately) bow, of things in heaven, and things on 
earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue 
(shall) confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father.” This also Paul declares in Phil. 
2:6-I1: 

“Who, existing in the form of God, counted 
not the being on an equality with God a thing 
to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the 
form of a servant, being made in the likeness of 
men; and being found in fashion as a man, He 
humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto 
death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also 
God highly exalted Him, and gave unto Him the 
name which is above every name; that 7m the name 
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in 
heaven and things on earth and things under the 
earth, and that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father.” 

Oh, the day of man’s trifling treatment of Jesus, 


204 THE CHRIST ORs Ene Lo Late 


the highly exalted Christ of God, will not be long. 
He is already exalted by God, God has already given 
“unto Him the name which is above every name’’; and 
soon the whole universe will see it and acknowledge 
Him and every “knee (shall) bow of things in heaven 
and things on earth and things under the earth and 

. every tongue (shall) confess that Jesus Christ 
is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Even the 
Devil and all demons and all the lost in hell shall bow 
the knee to Jesus and with their tongues confess that 
He is Lord. Listen! You who have never yet bowed 
the knee to Jesus Christ as Lord, you will have to do 
it some day. You would better do it voluntarily right 
now while it will bring salvation. If you won’t you 
will have to do it by compulsion in that Day when you 
are consigned to an everlasting hell. 


CHAPTER VII 


THE RETURN FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH OF JESUS, THE 
CHRIST OF THE BIBLE: OR, THE SECOND 
COMING OF THE CHRIST 


The subject of this chapter is, The Return of Jesus, 
the Christ of the Bible, from heaven (where He now 
is) to this earth; or, as it is commonly spoken of, The 
Second Coming of The Christ. There is perhaps no 
other subject regarding Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, 
that has awakened so much interest in recent years, 
upon which there is so much difference of opinion, 
and which has provoked so much controversy even 
among good men who profess to believe in the whole 
Bible, and oftentimes such bitter controversy, as the 
Second Coming of Christ. But what the Bible has to 
say on this subject is clear as crystal and as definite 
and as positive as words can make it, both in the Eng- 
lish versions and in the original Greek of the New 
Testament and the original Hebrew of the Old Testa- 
ment. What we shall say is built entirely upon a long 
continued and careful and thorough and entirely un- 
prejudiced study not merely of the Authorized Version 
and of the Revised Version but of the Greek New 
Testament and the Hebrew Old Testament. I have 
read many books on different sides and different phases 
of this question, books in English and books in Ger- 
man, but everything that I shall have to say will be built 
entirely upon one book, The Book, God’s Own Book, 


205 


206 THE: CHRIST OF THE BIBEE 


The Bible. We shall begin with seven passages of 
Scripture which are of fundamental importance. These 
seven passages do not contain all I have to say: they 
are simply the keynote of what I have to say, and many 
other passages of Scripture will be examined later; but 
we do not intend to express one single thought or to 
say one single word that is not built upon some specific 
portion of the Word of God which we shall cite in 
connection with the thought. I shall not waste your 
time with any speculations of my own on this tremen- 
dously important subject; I shall give you nothing but 
what God Himself has been pleased to say in a Book 
that He intended to be understood; and God knows 
enough to make Himself understood, if men really de- 
sire to understand what He has to say and not merely 
to find something in God’s Word to bolster up their 
own preconceived and self-made opinions. 

We shall indulge in no bitterness or ridicule or cheap 
attempts at sarcasm. They are entirely out of place 
in any honest search after the truth, but they are 
peculiarly out of place in discussions regarding this 
precious doctrine and blessed hope. 

Our first passage is our Lord’s own parting promise 
to His disciples, made the night before He left them, 
found in Jno. 14: 1-3: 

“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in 
God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house 
are many mansions; if it were not so, I would 
have told you; for I go to prepare a place for 
you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, 
I come again, and will receive you unto Myself; 
that where I am there ye may be also.” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 207 


The second passage is Heb. 9: 28: 

“So Christ also, having been once offered to 
bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, 
apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto 
salvation.”’ 

The third passage is Phil. 3:20, 21: 

“For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also 
we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 
Who shall fashion anew the body of our humilia- 
tion, that it may be conformed to the body of His 
glory, according to the working whereby He is 
able even to subject all things unto Himself.” 

Our fourth passage is one that we had occasion to 
refer to several times in the Sixth Chapter, in studying 
the Ascension of Jesus, the Christ of God, and His 
Exaltation to the right hand of the Father in Heaven, 
Acts 1:9-I1: 

“And when He (Jesus) had said these things, 
as they were looking, He was taken up; and a 
cloud received Him out of their sight. And while 
they were looking stedfastly into heaven as He 
went, behold, two men stood by them in white 
apparel; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, Who 
was received up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into 
heaven.” 

The fifth passage is 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17: 

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from 
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead 
in Christ shal! rise first; then we that are alive, 


208 THE CHRIST OF, THE BIBLE 


that are left, shall together with them be caught 
up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 

The sixth passage is Acts 3: 19-21: 

“Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your 
sins may be blotted out, that so there may come 
seasons of refreshing from the presence of the 
Lord; and that He may send the Christ Who hath 
been appointed for you, even Jesus: Whom the 
heaven must receive until the times of restoration 
of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of 
His holy prophets that have been from of old.” 

The seventh and last passage is the last prayer in the 
Bible, the prayer that sums up all the longings of the 
believing heart, a prayer inspired by the revelations 
and promises of this wonderful Book of God that so 
closes, Rev. 22:20: 

“He who testifieth these things saith, Yea: I 
come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.” 

We shall consider: 

First, the Importance of the Bible Doctrine of the 
Return of the Lord Jesus from Heaven, where He now 
is, to this earth where we now are and where He once 
was; 

Second, the Fact of His Return to this Earth; 

Third, the Manner of our Lord’s Return from 
Heaven where He now is to this earth; 

Fourth, the Results of the Return of Jesus, the 
Christ of the Bible, the only true Christ, from Heaven 
where He now is to this earth; 

Fifth, the Time when Jesus is Coming back again 
to this Earth. 


THE CHRISTOF THE: BIBLE 209 


I. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF 
THE RETURN OF OUR LORD JESUS FROM 
HEAVEN WHERE HE NOW IS TO THIS EARTH, 
WHERE HE ONCE WAS. 


We shall consider first the Importance of the Bible 
Doctrine of the Return of our Lord Jesus from 
Heaven, where He now is, to this earth, where He 
once was. 

1. In the first place, The importance of the doctrine 
of the Return of our Lord Jesus from Heaven where 
He now is to this earth is seen in the fact that tt 1s 
mentioned at least three hundred and eighteen tumes 
in the two hundred and sixty chapters of the New 
Testament and that it occupies at least one m every 
twenty-five verses from Matthew to Revelation. The 
doctrine of our Lord’s future Return from Heaven to 
the earth certainly does not occupy so large a place in 
the preaching of the average minister of the Gospel 
to-day as it does in the New Testament. 

I met one Monday morning in the Chicago Gallery 
of Fine Arts one of the Congregational ministers of 
that city. I said to him, ‘““What did you preach about 
yesterday?’ He replied, “I preached on the Second 
Coming of Christ. We were taught in the Theological 
Seminary that we were to give truth in scriptural pro- 
portions; and, as I am told that the doctrine of the 
Second Coming of Christ is found once in every 
twenty-five verses of the New Testament, I preach one 
sermon in every twenty-five on the Second Coming of 
Christ.” That probably was reducing it to too much 
of a mathematical nicety; nevertheless, certainly the 
doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ should oc- 


210 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


cupy a far larger place in our preaching than it does in 
the preaching of the average minister of to-day. 

2. In the second place, We see the Importance of 
the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ in the . 
fact that by far the greater number of predictions in 
the Old Testament concerning the Christ Who was to 
come, do not refer to His Coming in the earthly life 
which He has already lived here upon earth, His com- 
ing to die as an atoning sacrifice for sin, but to His 
‘Return to this earth from Heaven as a conquering 
King after He had died and was raised and ascended 
to the right hand of the Father. 

3. In the third place, The Importance of the truth 
of our Lord’s Return from Heaven to earth is seen ™ 
the fact that this is the one truth with which God bids 
us to comfort those believers who are sorrowing over 
the death of their loved ones. This we see in I Thess. 
4: 13-18: 

“But we would not have you ignorant, breth- 
ren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye 
sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. 
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, 
even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus 
will God bring with Him. For this we say unto 
you by the word of the Lord, that we that are 
alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, 
shall in no wise precede them that are fallen 
asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from | 
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, 
that are left, shall together with them be caught 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 211 


up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore 
comfort one another with these words.” 

My own experience in my forty-five years of min- 
istry is that there is no other doctrine taught in the 
Word of God that brings such comfort and joy to 
the hearts of real Christians in the midst of their sad- 
dest bereavements as the doctrine of the Return of the 
Lord Jesus. I have found it so, not only in my own 
personal experience when loved ones have been taken 
from me, but also in the many letters of consolation 
that I have written to friends in different parts of the 
world whose loved ones have been taken from them. 
I never write a letter of comfort to any one who is 
sorrowing for the departure of those who have fallen 
asleep in Christ in which I do not refer to the Second 
Coming of our Lord, and I always quote the specific 
passage which I have just read; and times without 
number I have received letters back speaking of the 
abounding comfort that came to those to whom I 
have written through what I had said on this point. 

In a similar way the Coming of the Lord Jehovah 
in the Person of our Lord Jesus in His Return to this 
earth to rule, is the one doctrine with which the Old 
Testament prophets were commanded to comfort God’s 
people in their oppression and sorrow. This we see 
Te stevtOn 2 OVO LT: 

“Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your 
God. Speak ye comfortably to (Hebrew—to the 
heart of) Jerusalem; and cry unto her, that her 
warfare is accomplished, that she hath received 
of Jehovah’s hand double for all her sins... . 


212 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


(9-11) O Thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, 
get thee up on a high mountain; O Thou that tell- 
est good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up Thy voice 
with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto 
the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold 
the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty One, and 
His arm will rule for Him: behold His reward is 
with Him, and His recompense before Him. He 
will feed Hs flock like a shepherd, He will gather 
the lambs in His arm, and carry them in His 
bosom, and will gently lead those that have their 
young,” 


4. In the fourth place, We see the Importance of 
this doctrine in that, “The Appearing of our great God 
and Saviour Jesus Christ’ at His Return and the 
events connected therewith are “the blessed hope’ and 
“eager desire” of all intelligent and properly instructed 
believers. This we see in Titus 2: 13: 


“Looking for the blessed hope and appearing 
of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus 
Christ (English Revision and Greek).” 


And we also see it in 2 Pet. 3: 11, 12, as it is prop- 
erly translated in the Revised Version: 


“Seeing that these things are thus all to be dis- 
solved, what manner of persons ought ye to be 
in all holy living and godliness, looking for and 
earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, 
by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall 
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with 
fervent heat?” 


6. In the sixth place, We see the fundamental and 
vital Importance of the doctrine of our Lord’s Return 


pnb CHRist- OFC Prt BI BUTE 213 


to this earth in that the fact of our Lord’s Return to 
this earth is the great Bible argument for a life of 
watchfulness, fidelity and wisdom in service, untiring 
activity, self-sacrificing simplicity of life, continuous 
self-restraint, constant prayer and abiding in Christ. 
Time would fail us to quote all the passages that prove 
this, but take a few illustrations, Matt. 24: 44-40: 

“Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour 
that ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who 
then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his 
lord hath set over his household, to give them 
their food in due season? Blessed is that servant, 
whom his lord when he cometh, shall find so 
doing.” 

Read Luke 21: 34-36: 

“But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your 
hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunk- 
enness, and cares of this life, and that day come on 
you suddenly as a snare: for so shall it come upon 
all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. 
But watch ye at every season, making supplica- 
tion, that ye may prevail to escape all these things 
that shall come to pass, and to stand before the 
Son of man.” 

Now read what John says in 1.Jno. 2:28: 

“And now, my little children, abide mn Him; 
that, if He shall be manifested, we may have bold- 
ness, and not be ashamed before Him at His 
coming.” 

At your leisure read the entire twenty-fifth chapter 
of Matthew and note carefully to what a great extent 
the Return of the Lord Jesus to this earth is empha- 


214 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


sized as the one great motive of proper conduct in all 
the different phases of the Christian life. There can 
be no question in the mind of any one who candidly, 
carefully and thoroughly studies the Scriptures, that 
the one fact that is constantly urged by our Lord and 
by His apostles as an incentive to a watchful, faithful, 
wise, active, simple, temperate and prayerful life, is the 
fact that our Lord Jesus is some day coming back 
from heaven where He now is to this earth where we 
now are. 

7. In the seventh place, The Importance of the 
doctrine of the Coming again of our Lord Jesus to 
this earth is seen in the fact that, Our Lord Jesus Him- 
self pronounced a special blessing upon all those serv- 
ants whom He should find watching when He came 
again. This we see in our Lord’s Words in Luke 
12: 35-38: 

“Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps 
burning; and be ye yourselves like unto men look- 
ing for their lord, when he shail return from the 
marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knock- 
eth, they may straightway open unto him. 
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when 
he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto 
you, that he shall gird himself, and make them 
sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them. 
And if he shall come in the second watch, and if 
in the third, and find them so, blessed are those 
servants.” 

I long to obtain for myself this especial and signal 
blessing that our Lord here promises to those who are 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 215, 


watching and eagerly waiting for His Coming, and I 
also earnestly desire that all who read this book may 
also obtain it. 

During my first pastorate, the first Pre-Millennial 
Conference was held in New York. It was held in 
one of the Episcopal churches, the church of the elder 
Dr. Stephen Tyng. It awakened great interest, and 
the New York Tribune printed all the addresses in 
full, The chorister of my own church was the editor 
of the local paper and he read all the addresses in the 
New York Tribune. He came to me and said, “Will 
you not speak on the Second Coming of Christ?” I 
put him off as best I could, but I thought to myself, 
“It will be a long time before you hear me speaking 
on so impractical and visionary a subject as that of 
the Second Coming of Christ.’’ I thank God, that the 
time came when I discovered that it was not an im- 
practical doctrine, but on the contrary one of the most 
practical doctrines in the whole Bible, and this doc- 
trine became not only a source of wonderful blessing in 
my own life, but a blessing to countless thousands 
around the world to whom it has been my privilege to 
proclaim this vitally important truth. 


Il. THE FACT OF THE RETURN OF THE LORD JESUS, 
THE CHRIST OF GOD, FROM HEAVEN WHERE 
HE NOW IS TO THIS EARTH WHERE HE ONCE 
WAS. 


Now we come directly to the all important matter 
of the Fact of the Return of the Lord Jesus, the Christ 
of God, from Heaven where He now is to this earth 


216 THE CHRIST OP THE Bibi 


where He once was. This fact is announced over and 
over again in the Bible in the clearest, most definite, 
most positive and most unmistakable terms. 

I. Jesus Himself announced it in John 14: 1-3: 

“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, 
believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are 
many mansions; if it were not so, I would have 
told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come 
again, and will receive you unto Myself; that 
where I am there ye may be also.” 

Our Lord Jesus had told His disciples that He was 
about to leave them, that the intimate, personal fel- 
lowship with Himself in the body which they had 
enjoyed for about four years, was about to come to 
an end, and that for some time they would see Him 
no more. “I am going (literal translation of Jno. 
14:28), He told them. “I am going away to Him 
that sent Me’’ (literal translation of Jno. 16:5), and 
sorrow filled their hearts (Jno. 16:5,6). They were 
filled with consternation at the thought of His going 
away to Heaven and leaving them here on earth alone. 
Then Jesus spoke the wonderful words found in Jno. 
14: 1-27 to comfort them and to deliver them from 
all fear. He prefaced these words by saying, ‘Let 
not your heart be troubled,’ and closed them by say- 
ing, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
fearful.” Almost the first thing He told them to cheer 
them and comfort them and deliver them from all fear, 
was that, although He was going, He was not going 
for good, that He was coming back to this earth. He 
said, 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 207 


“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, 
believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are 
many mansions; if it were not so, I would have 
told you: for I go to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go and prepare a place for you, J come 
again, and will receive you unto myself; that 
where I am, there ye may be also.” 

2. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews de- 
clares the same thing. He says in Heb. 9: 28: 

“So Christ also, having been once offered to 
bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, 
apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto 
salvation.” 

3. Paul declares the same great fact with some 
added details in 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17: 

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from 
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, 
that are left, shall together with them be caught 
up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 

Paul, when he wrote these words, doubtless had in 
mind the words of Jesus which we have just read 
from John 14:1-3; for they cover exactly the same 
four points that Jesus’ own words cover: 

(1) The “I come again’ of Jesus, parallels Paul’s 
words, “The Lord Himself shall descend from 
heaven.” 

(2) The “Receive you unto Myself” that Jesus 
spoke exactly parallels Paul’s “We . . . shall be caught 
up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” 


218 THE: CHRIST: OF THE] BIBEn 


(3) The words that Jesus spoke, “That where I 
am, there ye may be also” parallel exactly Paul’s 
words, “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 

(4) Jesus’ words of comfort are preceded by the 
words, “Let not your heart be troubled,” and this is 
exactly paralleled by verse eighteen of Paul’s words 
where he says, ‘Comfort one another with these 
words.” Furthermore Paul says in the immediately 
preceding verses, ““This we say unto you by the word 
of the Lord’; that is to say, he was quoting the Lord 
Jesus’ own teaching. 

Paul declares again this same great fact that Jesus, 
the Christ of God, is coming back from Heaven where 
He now is to this earth, in Phil. 3: 20, 21: 

“For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also 
we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 
Who shall fashion anew the body of our humilia- 
tion, that it may be conformed to the body of 
His glory, according to the working whereby 
He is able even to subject all things unto Him- 
self.’ 

4. Peter declares the same great fact that Jesus, 
the Christ of God, is coming back from Heaven where 
He now is to this earth, in Acts 3: 19-21: 

“Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your 
sins may be blotted out, that so there may come 
seasons of refreshing from the presence of the 
Lord; and that He may send the Christ Who hath 
been appointed for you, even Jesus: Whom the 
heaven must receive until the times of restoration 
of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of 
His holy prophets that have been from of old.” 


PR EVOh nis Obi oh BIBLE 219 


So we have the united and unanimous testimony of 
Peter, the apostle to the Jews, and Paul, the apostle to 
the Gentiles, and of Jesus Christ our Lord Himself, to 
the fact that some day our Lord, Who one day 
ascended from Mount Olivet into Heaven, is to return 
from Heaven, where He now is and has been since 
His Ascension, to this earth where He once was, when 
He walked the streets of Jerusalem and climbed the 
hills and sailed the waters of Galilee. Over and over 
again in these verses it is declared that “the very same 
Jesus’ Who died on the cross, whose body was laid in 
Joseph’s sepulcher, Whose body was raised from the 
dead, and Who was carried bodily “into Heaven,” to 
the right hand of the Father, is coming back again to 
this earth, which He left forty days after His Resur- 
rection. Not one of these predictions has as yet been 
fulfilled. 

I will not waste your time with discussing the 
question whether these promises have not already 
been fulfilled in Jesus coming to the individual 
at the death of the individual believer, or in the 
coming of the Holy Spirit at the Day of Pentecost, 
or in His coming to the individual believer when he 
receives the Holy Spirit, Who forms within Him an 
indwelling Christ (which is of course a very real Com- 
ing of Christ, though clearly it is not at all the Com- 
ing of Christ promised in the passages which we have 
read), or in the Coming of Christ at the destruction 
of Jerusalem. I say I will not waste your time with 
discussing these questions, whether these promises have 
not already been fulfilled in some one or all of the 
events mentioned, because those who once tried to take 


220 THE CHRIST: OF THE BIBLE 


the force out of these passages which I have quoted 
by interpretations of this character, have themselves 
largely given up the attempt as hopeless, and now con- 
tent themselves either by saying frankly or by covertly 
implying that Paul and Peter and even Jesus Himself 
were mistaken in what they said. Furthermore, the 
utter impossibility of these interpretations will be 
clearly seen when we take up the next division of our 
subject, the Manner of Jesus Christ’s Coming again. 


Ill. THE MANNER OF THE RETURN OF JESUS, THE 
CHRIST OF THE BIBLE, FROM HEAVEN WHERE 
HE NOW IS TO THIS EARTH. 


We come now to a consideration of the Manner of 
the Return of Jesus, the Christ of the Bible, from 
Heaven where He now is to this earth where we now 
are. Here again the Bible is as plain and as explicit 
and as definite as language can by any possibility make 
it; and, if we are willing to take the words of Jesus 
Himself and of His apostles, inspired of God (the 
accuracy of whose words as being Spirit taught and 
containing the full truth of God Jesus Himself en- 
dorsed), at their full face value (and this is the 
only honest and intelligent way of taking the words 
of any intelligent and honest person, and especially 
the words of our Divine Lord), there can be no mis- 
taking what the truth is in this matter. The specu- 
lations and imaginings and maunderings of subtle 
theologians may be interesting and may also be in a 
measure helpful as a mental exercise, but THE ONLY 
THING ON A SUBJECT LIKE THIS THAT IS 
REALLY WORTH WHILE OR THAT GETS 


Heer CHRIST: OF VEE: BIBLE 22 


ANYWHERE, IS WHAT GOD SAYS IN THE 
BOOK. Well, what does God say in the Book? 

I. In the first place, as to the Manner of the Re- 
turn of Jesus from Heaven where He now is to this 
earth, Our Lord will come back to this earth again 
personally, the very same Jesus Who was received up 
from this earth into Heaven shall come back from 
Heaven to this earth. This our Lord Himself declares 
ATH Oni mae ass | 

“If I go and prepare a place for you, J come 
again, and will receive you unto Myself; that 
where I am there ye may be also.” 

Paul said it in so many words in 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17: 

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from 
heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the arch- 
angel, and with the trump of God: and the dead 
in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, 
that are left, shall together with them be caught 
up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and 
so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 

The two messengers in white whom God sent to 
cheer the apostles as they saw the Lord Jesus ascend- 
ing into Heaven and leaving them behind here on 
earth, and a cloud receiving Him out of their sight, 
for a long, long time, said the same thing in Acts 
I:Q-Il: 

“And when He (that is Jesus) had said these 
things, as they were looking, He was taken up; 
and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And 
while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as 
He went, behold two men stood by them in white 
apparel; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why 


222 THE CHRIST*“OFP, THE BIBLE 


stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, Who 
was received up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into 
heaven.” 

It is evident from these, as well as from many other 
utterances in the Bible, that the Return of our Lord 
Jesus so frequently spoken of in the New Testament 
is not to be merely some new revelation of truth, or 
some great moral or religious reform or some ecstatic 
experience of the individual; it is to be the Coming 
of a Person, of the very same Jesus Whom the dis- 
ciples saw going into heaven. He shall come again, 
“THE LORD HIMSELF shall descend from 
heaven.” ‘The claim is frequently made by the Chris- 
tian Scientists that the revelation of Christian Science 
to Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy in 1876 was the Coming 
Again of Jesus Christ; but the passage just cited 
makes it clear as day that the Coming Again of Jesus 
Christ is not the mere revelation of truth to Mrs. 
Eddy (or to any one else), but the Coming of a Per- 
son, the very same Person Who was once here, and 
Who went into heaven, and is at present there. 

2. In the second place, as to the Manner of our 
Lord Jesus’ Coming back again, Our Lord Jesus shall 
return to this earth in a visible, bodily form. This 
also is clear from the words of the heavenly messengers 
which we just quoted. Let us read them again, Acts 
I:Q-II: 

“And when He (that is, Jesus) had said these 
things, as they were looking, He was taken up; 
and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And 
while they were looking stedfastly into heaven as 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 223 


He went, behold, two men stood by them in white 
apparel; who also said, Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye looking into heaven? this Jesus, Who 
was received up from you into heaven, shall so 
come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into 
heaven.” 

Please note particularly the words “as ye beheld 
Him going into heaven.” The Greek word translated 
“ye beheld” is a very strong intensive word meaning 
“to look stedfastly at with the eyes” (“such a looking 
as seeks a gratification of the sense of sight”), and IT 
CERTAINLY TEACHES BEYOND A POSSI- 
BILITY OF HONEST DOUBT THAT JESUS IS 
COMING BACK IN A VISIBLE BODY THAT 
GAN BE SEEN WITH THE EYES: 

Some years ago a new pastor was being installed in 
the First Congregational Church in Minneapolis. I 
was a member of the Installing Council. It was the 
custom in those days to carefully question the candi- 
date for either ordination or installation as to his doc- 
trinal views. I put to this particular candidate, who 
was a well known and gifted minister of the Gospel, 
the question, “Do you believe in the Personal, Visible, 
Bodily Return of our Lord Jesus to this earth?” He 
replied, “I do not.’ Then I asked him a second ques- 
tion “What do you do with Acts 1:11: 

“““This Jesus, Who was received up from you 
into heaven, shall so come im like manner as ye 
beheld Him going into heaven’ ?”’ 

He replied, “The words mean that He is coming 
with equal certainty as He went, but have nothing to 
do with the Manner of His coming.” But such an 


224 THE CHRIST OF ‘THE ‘BIBLE 


interpretation is absolutely impossible to any one who 
will examine the uniform usage and exact force of 
the Greek words used. The Greek words used do not 
admit of such an interpretation. Literally translated 
the Greek words would read, “This Jesus (and the 
emphasis is upon the “This,” thus emphasizing the 
fact that it was the very same Jesus Whom they had 
seen going, and not some other Jesus) Who was taken 
up from you into the heaven thus shall come im the 
manner which ye beheld Him going into the heaven.” 
I have examined every passage in which the word 
ttanslated “manner” is used, and it never means any- 
thing but the “manner,” it does not indicate mere cer- 
tainty in one single instance; therefore these words as 
used here must describe the “manner” in which Jesus 
is coming and nothing else, and as the heavenly mes- 
sengers declared, Jesus is coming “in the (exact) 
manner” that they “beheld Him going into heaven.” 

That the Coming Again of Jesus Christ will be in 
a visible bodily form is unmistakably clear also from 
Heb9;28: 

“So Christ also, having been once offered to 
bear the sins of many, shall appear a second 
time.” 

The word translated “shall appear” in this verse 
means literally “shall be seen.’ The definition given 
of the Greek word here used by Thayer in his Greek- 
English Lexicon of the New Testament, the best 
authority extant, is, “to see with the eyes.” It cannot 
mean anything else. 

That Jesus is to come visibly and bodily is also as 
clear as words can make it in Rev. 1:7: 


THE }CHRIST.OF THE: BIBLE 225 


“Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and 
every eye shall see Him, and they that pierced 
Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn 
over Him.” 

These words make it as clear as language can pos- 
sibly make it, that our Lord’s Return is not merely 
a spiritual coming (or Coming in the Spirit), but a: 
visible, bodily Coming, so visible that at least at one 
stage of His Coming “every eye shall see Him.” It 
is impossible to explain these words away and deal 
honestly with the Word of God. 

I was speaking on the Second Coming of Christ 
one Sunday morning in the Moody Church in Chi- 
cago. I had among my hearers one of Pastor Rus- 
sell’s teachers of his Millennial Dawn Vagaries. At 
the close of the address this teacher stopped me and 
said, “Mr. Torrey, you don’t believe, do you, that 
Jesus is so coming that we can see Him with these 
eyes of ours?” I replied, “It does not make a particle 
of difference what I believe, but it makes all the dif- 
ference in the world what God says. Let me show you 
just what God says,” and I opened my Bible to 
Rev. 1:7: 

“Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and 
every eye shall see Him, and they that pierced 
Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn 
over Him.” 

He had nothing more to say. What more was 
there to say? “Pastor Russell’s” theory regarding the 
Coming of our Lord in October, 1874, will not bear 
any careful examination, nor will the theories of any 


226 THE CHRIST OF THE BIpiE 


one else who denies the actual, literal, bodily, visible 
Return of our Lord Jesus to this earth. 

3. Inthe third place, The Return of the Lord Jesus, 
the true Christ, the Christ of God, from heaven to 
this earth shall be with great publicity. This fact 
Jesus Himself made clear and declared with great em- 
phasis in Matt. 24: 26, 27: 

“If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, 
He ts in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, He 
is in the inner chambers; believe it not. For as 
the lightning cometh forth from the east, and is 
seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of 
the Son of man.” 

We are constantly being told by modern errorists of 
one kind or another that the Lord Jesus has already 
come in some “inner chamber,’ or in some obscure 
corner, of the earth. For example, ‘Pastor Russell’ 
taught, and the Millennial Dawnists still teach, that 
Christ came in October, 1874; the ‘‘Christian Scien- 
tists’ would have us believe that He came in Concord 
to Mrs. Eddy in the Revelation of ‘Science and 
Health”; “The Flying Roll” advocates say that He 
come in “Prince Michael’’; others teach that He came 
in Schweinfurth; others that He came in Dora Beek- 
man; others that He came in “Cyrus” Teed. Since I 
have been in Los Angeles two different persons, a pic- 
ture of one of whom I have stowed away in my office 
closet, were claimed to be the Christ come back to 
earth and that He was soon to be manifested, ‘one of 
them in the Mojave Desert and the other somewhere 
else. But all these “Inner Chamber Christs” and “Ob- 
scure Corner Christs’ are a huinbug; and they were 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE eon 


predicted and exposed by our Lord Jesus Himself cen- 
turies ago. 

Even at His Coming for His saints to take them up 
to be with Himself, it seems that there will be a large 
measure of publicity about it, since Paul describes it in 
these words: 

“The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, 
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and 
with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are 
left, shall together with them be caught up in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall 
we ever be with the Lord.” 

There does not seem to be any room here for the 
doctrine, so widely taught, of the Secret Rapture of 
Believers. We shall be taken up with a large measure 
of publicity; and there is reason to hope that those left 
behind will be so impressed that many of them will be 
converted. 

4. In the fourth place, dt His Return from heaven 
to this earth the Son of man is coming on the clouds of 
heaven with power and great glory. This our Lord 
Himself declares in Matt. 24: 30: 

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of 
man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the 
earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man 
coming on the clouds of heaven with power and 
great glory.” 

The question will naturally arise, What does the 
statement that He is “coming on the clouds of heaven,” 
signify? It signifies that He is coming as an unmis- 
takably Divine Person and not merely as aman. The 


228 THE ‘CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


only One Whom the Bible ever represents as coming 
“in (or, on) the clouds” is the Eternal, Almighty 
Jehovah. I will not take the space to quote in full the 
passages. You can look them up for yourselves. 
‘They are Ex. 19703 34153 Ps.97 >) 1; (29 batt pera 
PSwlOa a visaut Ore 

It is evident from all these passages that it was Je- 
hovah Who came “in (or, on) the clouds,” He, and 
He alone; and, therefore, to say that our Lord Jesus 
is “coming in (or, on) the clouds,” is equivalent to 
saying that He is coming as the Divine One, or coming 
in fully manifested Divine Glory. The high priest in 
whose presence our Lord Jesus said that He was “com- 
ing on the clouds of heaven’ (Matt. 26:64), fully 
recognized that Jesus, by saying this, was proclaiming 
His real and full Deity, for we read in the next 
verse, “Then the high priest rent his garments, saying, 
He hath spoken blasphemy.” 

When Jesus came before, He came as the helpless 
Babe of Bethlehem for Whom there was no room in 
the inn, He was born in a cow stable and cradled ina 
manger; but when He comes again He will come as 
God clearly manifested, riding in the chariot of God, 
the clouds (compare Ps. 104:3). 

And He is coming also, as the verse we are studying 
declares, “with power and great glory.’ I was once 
speaking on the Second Coming of Christ at North- 
field, in the Auditorium. While I was speaking very 
black clouds had gathered over Northfield and right 
over the Auditorium. I had just read Matt. 24: 30, 
and said in commenting upon it that Jesus is coming 
again with “power and great glory.’’ Just then, in an 


THE CHRIST.OF THE BIBLE 229 


instant, the room was filled with blinding light and 
there was immediately a deafening crash of thunder. 
The lightning had struck the building where we were 
gathered and went all over the wires. People sprang 
to their feet and some shrieked. I said, “Oh, sit down. 
There is nothing to be afraid of. This is nothing to 
what it will be when the Lord Jesus actually comes 
again.” [ looked down to my left; and there, seated 
very calmly and very radiant, was a little elderly 
woman, Mr. Moody’s oldest sister. Her face was a 
picture. It was filled not with fear, but with ecstatic 
exultation. When I went down and spoke to her at 
the close of the address she said; “Oh, Mr. Torrey, I 
was so happy, it was the happiest moment of my life, 
I thought that Jesus had really come.” And for years 
afterward whenever I met her she would refer to that 
day. 

5. In the fifth place, At the Return from heaven to 
this earth of the Lord Jesus He 1s coming 1n the glory 
of His Father, accompanied by the “holy angels’ as 
His triumphal train. This Jesus Himself declares. 
You will find His words in Matt. 16:27: 

“For the Son of man shall come in the glory of 
His Father with His angels; and then shall He 
render unto every man according to His deeds.” 

He said it again in Mark 8: 38: 

“For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of 
My words in this adulterous and sinful genera- 
tion, the Son of man also shall be ashamed of 
him, when He cometh in the glory of His Father 
with the holy angels.” 

Paul refers to the same fact in 2 Thess. 1:7: 


230 THE CHRISTOF DAE Bh ink: 


“And to you that are afflicted rest with us, at 
the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with 
the angels of His power.” 

When He came before He came in great humilia- 
tion. He had “emptied Himself” of His Divine glory, 
He had laid aside “the form of God” and taken the 
“form of a servant,” and had been “‘made in the like- 
ness of men.” They did with Him whatsoever they 
pleased: they mocked Him; they blindfolded Him; 
they spit upon Him; they scourged Him; they nailed 
Him to the cross and derided Him; but when He 
comes again He will come with all the glory, all the 
visible glory of Deity and all the wondrously glorious 
hosts of heaven will follow in His train. 

When Mrs. Torrey and I were in India in 1902 they 
were preparing for Emperor Edward’s Durbar and 
Mrs. Torrey went up to Jaipur to see the preliminary 
processions of the Durbar. She came back with won- 
derful stories of Rajahs and Maharajahs and other dig- 
nitaries, clad in cloth of gold, and even of elephants 
arrayed with golden garments, and of unparalleled 
splendor of all kinds. But the most glorious Durbar or 
Coronation that there has ever been on this earth was 
nothing at all in comparison with the glory of the 
countless hosts who will accompany our Lord in that 
great and glad Coming Day when He descends from 
heaven to this earth. 

6. In the sixth place, At our Lord’s return from 
heaven to earth our Lord Jesus is coming as a thief, 
that is, He is coming without announcement, without 
warning, unexpectedly, suddenly. This He says in 
Rev. 16:15: 


PrP Cri RS teORMET Ee  BUBIT. 231 


“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that 
watcheth, and keepeth His garments, lest he walk 
naked, and they see his shame.” 

Paul indicates the same thing in 1 Thess. 5: 2, 3: 

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day 
of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 
When they are saying, Peace and safety, then 
sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail 
upon a woman with child; and they shall in no 
wise escape.”’ 

We should bear in mind that there will be different 
stages in our Lord’s Return to this earth. I will not 
take the time to quote the Scriptures now for we 
shall have occasion to refer to them later, but you can 
look them up for yourselves, 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17; Matt. 
Boca leceneuiness..2: 2,75 Zech. 14: 45,5. 

The first stage will be when the Lord comes in the 
air, whither His believing people will be caught up to 
meet Him; the second stage will be when the Lord 
comes to the earth. In this latter stage His saints will 
come with Him (1 Thess. 3:13; Col. 3:4; 1 Thess. 
4:14). In the air Christ comes for His own: to the 
earth He comes with His own. For anything we are 
told in the Bible, a considerable interval may take place 
between these two stages of our Lord’s coming. 
However, the Coming of our Lord in the air for His 
saints and His Coming to the earth with His saints 
are not two Comings of our Lord, but two stages in 
His one Coming. His Coming to the earth with His 
saints is the culmination of His Coming in the air for 
His saints. It will help us solve the many seeming 
discrepancies in the many passages of the Bible tnat 


B52 THE ‘CHRIST IOP ST HEV BIBLE 


deal with this subject, if we will keep constantly in 
mind this distinction between the Lord Coming in the 
air for His saints and His Coming to the earth with 
His saints. 

The third stage will be a succession of events which 
will follow His Coming to the earth. This stage in 
our Lord’s Coming will cover a long period of years. 


IV. THE RESULTS OF THE RETURN OF JESUS, THE 
CHRIST OF THE BIBLE, FROM HEAVEN WHERE 
HE NOW IS TO THIS EARTH WHERE WE NOW 
ARE AND WHERE HE ONCE WAS. 


We come now to a careful consideration of The Re- 
sults of The Return of the Lord Jesus, the Christ of 
the Bible, from Heaven where He now is to this Earth 
where we now are and where He once was, as these 
results are set forth in the Word of God. We shall 
find that these Results are very wonderful and such 
as to fill our heart with great joy and immeasurable 
and well-grounded hope. These Results naturally di- 
vide themselves into six classes: 

First, The Results of the Return of the Lord Jesus 
as regards the Church, i.e., all who have received Jesus 
Christ as their personal Saviour and surrendered to 
Him as their Lord and Master and confessed Him as 
such before the world before He comes. 

Second, The Results of the Return of the Lord Jesus 
as regards Israel. 

Third, The Results of the Return of the Lord Jesus 
as regards the Gentile Nations and unregenerate in- 
dividuals. 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 233 


Fourth, The Results of the Return of the Lord Jesus 
as regards the Anti-Christ and the Devil. 

Fifth, The Results of the Return of the Lord Jesus 
as regards human society as a whole. 

Sixth, The Results of the Return of the Lord Jesus 
as regards the physical universe. 

I. First then let us consider, THE RESULTS OF 
THE RETURN OF THE LORD JESUS FROM 
HEAVEN FOUBARTH AS “REGARDS THE 
CHURCH. 

They will be manifold. 

(1) In the first place, At the Return of the Lord 
Jesus from Heaven to Earth the Bodies of All those 
Believers in Christ who have died before He comes 
back will be raised from the Dead. This the Apostle 
Paul declares in the plainest possible terms in 1 Thess. 
4: 13-16: 

“But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, 
concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow 
not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if 
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so 
them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God 
bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the 
word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are 
left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise 
precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord 
Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel, and with the 
trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise 
first.” 

We see here that the bodies of our friends who have 


234. THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


departed from this life before He comes will be raised 
from the dead at the Return of the Lord Jesus; that 
before He reaches this earth, while He is still in the air 
on His way here, their bodies will be raised. 

Where at the present time are our departed friends 
who really beheved in Jesus Christ? This the Word 
of God tells us plainly: it tells us that their spirits are 
with Christ in Paradise, but that their bodies are in the 
grave or crumbled into the dust from which they were 
originally made, our loved ones at the present time 
are “absent from the body, but at home with the Lord.” 
Let me read you 2 Cor. 5: 1-8: 

“For we know that if the earthly house of our 
tabernacle (that 1s, our present bodies) be dis- 
solved, we have a building from God, a house 
not made with hands (that is, our resurrection 
bodies), eternal, in the heavens. For verily in 
this (that is, in this present earthly body which 
we now have), we groan, longing to be clothed 
upon with our habitation which is from heaven 
(that is, our resurrection body): if so be it that 
being clothed we shall not be found naked. For 
indeed we that are in this tabernacle do groan, 
being burdened; not for that we would be un- 
clothed (that is, merely put aside our earthly 
bodies), but that we would be clothed upon (that 
is, receive our resurrection bodies), that what is 
mortal (our present body) may be swallowed up 
of life. Now He that wrought us for this very 
thing is God, who gave unto us the earnest of the 
Spirit. Being therefore always of good courage, 
and knowing that, whilst we are at home in the 


THE CHRIST OF THE: BIBLE 235 


body (that is, while our spirits still dwell in this 

present, earthly body), we are absent from the 

Lord (He being up yonder in heaven and we being 

down here) (for we walk by faith, not by sight) ; 

we are of good courage, I say, and are willing 

rather to be absent from the body, and to be at 

home with the Lord.” 
The meaning of this is perfectly plain and unmis- 
takable. It tells us that there are three states in which 
believers exist: First, our present state in which our 
spirits dwell in our present, mortal bodies; Second, the 
state between the time of our death and the Return of 
the Lord Jesus, when our spirits are unclothed, that 
is, are no longer clothed upon with our present mortal 
body ; Third, our final state of perfected blessedness, in 
which our spirits will be clothed upon with our resur- 
rection bodies. That for which the intelligent believer 
longs is the third state, when not only his redeemed 
spirit is with Jesus Christ, but when his redeemed spirit 
is clothed upon with his redeemed body and both spirit 
and body shall be with Jesus Christ. 

But while this third state is what the believer longs 
for, while that is his final hope; still, if he is properly 
instructed, he knows that the second state, the state 
where the spirit is disrobed from his body and is pres- 
ent with the Lord, is better than the state in which we 
now are, though not so good as the ultimate state that 
shall be ours at the return of our Lord. The moment 
the believer in Christ falls asleep in Christ (or what 
men call “dies”), his spirit departs to be with Christ 
in conscious and very great blessedness. As Paul puts 
ip ine het + 23 


236 THE CHRIST: OF THE BIBLE 


“But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having 
the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is 
very far better.” 

That is to say that the state where we are “absent 
from the body and present with the Lord” “‘is very far 
better” than our present state. For his own sake Paul 
desired to depart and be with Christ, which was “very 
far better,” but for the sake of the believers in Philippi 
he desired to remain in the body, because that was 
“more needful for” them. (Phil. 1:24). 

The spirits of those who have already departed 
from the body are happy now, exceedingly happy, far 
happier than they ever were on earth; but they have 
not attained unto their full reward and supreme 
blessedness. They will receive that when the Lord 
Jesus comes back again from heaven to earth, when 
their bodies shall be raised and they shall be clothed 
upon with their resurrection bodies, and not only their 
spirits but also their bodies, shall be with Christ Jesus. 

(2) Inthe second place, At the Return of the Lord 
Jesus to this earth, the Bodies of those Believers in 
Him who are still living, “in a moment, in the twin- 
kling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:52) shall be transformed 
and glorified, transformed into the Likeness of the 
Body which Jesus Christ now has in the Glory. This 
Paul tells us in Phil. 3: 20, 21: 

“For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also 
we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 
Who shall fashion anew the body of our humilia- 
tion, that it may be conformed to the body of His 
glory, according to the working whereby He is 
able even to subject all things unto Himself.” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 237 


In our present life, as soon as we accept Jesus Christ 
we get great peace, “the peace of God that passeth all 
understanding,” (Phil. 4:6, 7), and great joy, even 
“joy unspeakable and full of glory,’ (1 Pet. 1:8). 
Ah, but that is nothing to the joy we shall have when 
He comes back again. In spite of all the joy we have 
in Christ Jesus in the life that now is, because of the 
limitations and frailties of these mortal bodies of ours, 
“We groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, 
to wit, the redemption of our body’ (Rom. 8:23). 
When Jesus comes again we shall have at once the 
“redemption of our bodies,” we shall have our glorified 
bodies, the bodies that are the perfect counterpart of 
our redeemed spirits that inhabit them; we shall have 
then bodies not subject to suffering and pain and weak- 
ness and decay and dissolution, but incorruptible, glo- 
rious, heavenly bodies, bodies like unto His Own. In 
that day “our adoption,” i.e., our placing as sons, our 
outward manifestation as sons of God, shall be com- 
plete, in the redemption of the body as well as of the 
spirit. We shall have bodies, but bodies which are 
unlike our present bodies, bodies not subject to the 
aches and pains and weaknesses to which our present 
bodies are subject, bodies that shall in no sense be a 
hindrance to us in our work, but rather the perfect in- 
struments for the carrying out of every purpose of 
the redeemed spirits that inhabit them, bodies like unto 
His Own glorious body. These bodies are no longer 
to be held down to this earth; we shall have no need 
of aeroplanes, but these bodies “shall be caught up to 
meet the Lord in the air” and “be forever with’ Him. 

(3) Inthe third place, At the Return of our Lord 


238 THER “GOHRIST. OF Titik BIBhE 


Jesus, before He reaches the earth, while He is still in 
the air on His way here, all believers in Him, both 
those still living, and those who have fallen asleep but 
who are now ratsed, shall be caught up together to 
meet the Lord in the ar, to be forever with Him. This 
Paul tells us “by the Word of the Lord” in 1 Thess. 
4: 15-17: 

“For this we say unto you by the word of the 
Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the 
coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them 
that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself 
shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of 
God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then 
we that are alive, that are left, shall together with 
them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord 
in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 

The Greek word translated “caught up” in this pas- 
sage 1s a very strong word and means, “to carry away 
by force.’ We shall be snatched away from this 
world that is to be for a time visited with awful judg- 
ments, we shall be carried away before these judgments 
break upon this world, It is the Returning Lord Jesus 
Himself Who puts forth the Divine power that carries 
us up out of the doom and desolation and untold and 
unparalleled misery that is for several years to be 
visited upon this Christ-rejecting world. This we learn 
from our Lord’s Own Words in John 14: 1-3: 

“Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, 
believe also in me. In my Father’s house are 
many mansions: if it were not so, I would have 
told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE —_239 


And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come 
again, and will receive you unto myself; that 
where I am, there ye may be also.” 

The Greek word translated “receive” in this passage 
is a word full of deepest significance. It is a compound 
word, compounded of a verb which means “‘to take 
with the hand” or “to lay hold of” or “‘to take in order 
to carry away,” and a preposition which means “‘along- 
side of” or “with,” and so the compound word means 
“to carry away to be with oneself.” (Thayer in his 
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament gives 
as the first meaning of the word “‘to take to, to take 
with oneself, to win to oneself.”) So the thought is, 
that before the Great Tribulation breaks on this earth, 
our Lord Jesus on His way to this earth, will put forth 
His hand (or, His Divine power) and take us away 
out of the world and its doom to be with Himself. As 
we shall see later, when “the Tribulation” culminates, 
He will come to the earth, to the complete deliverance 
of Israel, and bring us with Him to participate in His 
glorious reign. 

(4) Inthe fourth place, At the Return of our Lord 
to this Earth, when He is manifest in His Full Glory, 
Believers in Him shall be made like Him as a Result of 
their Seeing Him-as He is. This we are told in 1 Jno. 
otter 

“Beloved, now are we children of God, and it 
is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We 
know that if He shall be manifested, we shall be 
like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is.” 

This is one of the most precious promises in the 
whole Word of God. I have sometimes thought that it 


240 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


was the most wonderful and the very best of all. Think 
of it, “WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM’—! like Him 
not only in physical appearance and outward glory, but 
like Him intellectually and morally. Beholding our 
Lord as He really is, not in His veiled glory (as He 
was manifested here on earth), but in the full unveil- 
ing of His glory, will transform us into the very Image 
of the Lord. Even in the present life, looking at Him 
makes us like Him. “We... beholding as in a 
mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the 
same image from glory to glory, even as from the 
Lord the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18). But now we see 
through a glass darkly, and so our reflection of His 
glory is imperfect; then we shall see Him face to face, 
in His undimmed glory, and shall perfectly reflect it 
in our own persons. This is one of the most amazing 
statements in the Word of God. It seems too good to 
be true, but it is true; for God Himself says it. In 
this present life we are struggling hard to be like Him, 
but there is a very wide gulf between the intellectual 
and moral and spiritual attainment of the best of 
earthly saints and the infinitely and absolutely perfect 
wisdom and character of our Lord Jesus Himself. 
At His coming again, the weakest and most halting 
and most hesitating of His people will be transformed 
into His Own perfect likeness, “we shall be (just) like 
Him.” 

In 2 Thess. 1:10. We are told that the Lord Jesus 
“shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be mar- 
velled at in all them that believed.” Notice carefully 
it does not say, “To be glorified by His saints,” but 
“in” them, and not “to be marvelled at by His saints,” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE —_agr 


but “to be marvelled at im all them that believed.” 
That is to say, it is because of the reflection of His 
glory in us, that He is to be “glorified in” us, “and to 
be marvelled at in” us. We shall so perfectly reflect 
His Glory, not merely the outward glory of His ex- 
ternal appearance, but the inward glery of His moral 
character, that He will be glorified in what we then 
are. From most of us He gets very little glory from 
what we now are, but from the weakest of us He shall 
get great glory as we shall then be. In a similar way 
we are told in Col. 3: 4, R.V., that: 
“When Christ, who is our life, shall be mani- 
fested, then shall ye also with Him be manifested 
im glory.” 

In that day, not only shall He be seen in His perfect 
Divine glory, but we also shall be seen in glory, our 
bodies shall be glorious, but better still, our characters 
shall be glorious. WE SHALL BE JUST LIKE 
HIM. He will transform us into His Own perfect 
Image. Then all our strugglings after Holiness shall 
have perfect fruition. So we read in 1 Thess. Ses: 

“And the God of peace Himself sanctify you 
wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be 
preserved entire, without blame at the coming of 
our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 

(5) In the fifth place, At the Return of the Lord 
Jesus, the Church, the Betrothed Bride of Jesus C hrist, 
shall be united in marriage with Him, and shall share 
with Him in the Delights and Glories of the M arriage 
Supper. This we see in Matt. 25:10 compared with 
Rev. 19: 7-9: 

“And while they went away to buy, the bride- 


242 THE CHRIST OF ‘THE BIBEE 


groom came; and they that were ready went in 
with Him to the marriage feast.” 

“Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let 
us give the glory unto Him; for the marriage of 
the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made her- 
self ready. And it was given unto her that she 
should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: 
for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 
And He said unto me, Write, Blessed are they 
that are bidden to the marriage supper of the 
Lamb. And He saith unto me, These are true 
words of God.” 

All that that may mean we cannot now fathom, but 
it means glory and joy beyond any power of human 
expression or human conception. Even those who “are 
invited to the marriage supper’ are “blessed,” but how 
much more blessed the bride herself! 

At that marriage of the Church to Himself Jesus 
Christ will “present the Church to Himself a glorious 
Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; 
but that it should be holy and without blemish.” This 
we are told in so many words in Eph. 5: 25-27. 

(6) In the sixth place, At the Return of the Lord 
Jesus, all those who have loved His appearing shall 
receive a crown of righteousness. This we are told in 
OM LATIN Ae a ze Wo 2 

“T have fought the good fight, I have finished 
the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there 
is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, 
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give to | 
me at that day; and not to me only, but also to all 
them that have loved His appearing.” 


wo CHRISTOF THE BIBLE 243 


We will not stop to dwell upon all the significance 
of this, but it certainly ought to lead every one of us 
who think we love the Lord Jesus Christ to ask our- 
selves very seriously and earnestly, Do I really “love 
His appearing,’ am I really longing for His Return, 
and is this “crown of righteousness” which He is to 
give at His Return to those “who have loved His ap- 
pearing’’ to be mine? 

(7) In the seventh place, At the Return of our 
Lord from Heaven to this Earth and His consequent 
Victory over His Enemies, His believing people shall 
live and reign with Him, This we are told in Rev. 
20:4: | 

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, 
and judgment was given unto them: and I saw 
the souls of them that had been beheaded for the 
testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and 
such as worship not the beast, neither his image, 
and received not the mark upon their forehead 
and their hand; and they live, and reign with 
Christ a thousand years.” 

This verse seems to refer primarily to the Tribula- 
tion saints but by implication it refers to all believers. 
Certainly a bride must reign with her husband. Fur- 
thermore, the fact that we shall reign is clearly set 
forth in Rev. 5:9, Io: 

“And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art 
Thou to take the Book and to open the seals 
thereof: for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase 
unto God with Thy blood men (out) of every 
tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and 
madest them to be unto our God a kingdom 


244 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


and priests; and they reign upon the earth.” 

When Jesus comes back from heaven to earth, He 
shall sit upon the throne and reign over all the earth. 
At that time there shall be what the kings of the earth 
have long striven after, but never attained unto, an 
absolutely universal kingdom. But not only so, but 
His Church, i.e., all believers in this present Dispensa- 
tion, shall reign with Him; the Church, the Bride of 
Christ, shall reign jointly with the Bridegroom, Jesus 
Christ Himself, “The King of Kings, and Lord of 
Lords.” There is no earthly monarch ruling on earth 
to-day (nor has there ever been an earthly monarch 
at any time) that has the glory or the power that the 
humblest believer in Christ will have after the Lord 
Jesus returns with us to this earth. Of His Coming 
to reign we are told in the Old Testament also, e.g., 
Lipp ler2 2c Skye 

“Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I 
will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He 
shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall exe- 
cute justice and righteousness in the land. In His 
days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell 
safely ; and this is His name whereby He shall be 
called: Jehovah our righteousness.” 

Such shall be His reign, and the Church, which is 
His Bride, is to reign with Him. As we have said, we 
shall be kings; and no earthly monarch, even the most 
magnificent this old world has ever seen, ever had such 
glory as shall be ours in that day. Do not talk to me 
about, or try to tempt me with, the splendors of multi- 
millionaires, or of the great potentates of this earth. 


Leek Lb Ol DE BIBLE 245 


Bah, that is nothing to what I am to have, and I am 
willing in the meantime, if it be God’s will, to live for 
a few years in a cottage, or even a shanty, here on 
earth, until He comes. 

2. Now let us look at, THE RESULTS OF THE 
RETURN FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH OF THE 
LORD JESUS AS’REGARDS ISRAEL. 

(1) In the first place, Im connection with the Re- 
turn of the Lord Jesus, the children of Judah and Israel, 
the whole twelve tribes who have been scattered far 
and wide among the Nations, shall be gathered from 
the four corners of the Earth and brought back into 
their own land, the land of which Jerusalem is the 
political center. 

This is clearly indicated in a number of passages. 

Read isayrt* 11, 12: 

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the 
Lord will set His hand again the second time 
to recover the remnant of His people, that shall 
remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from 
Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and 
from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the 
islands of the sea. And He will set up an ensign 
for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of 
Israel, and gather together the disbursed of Judah 
from the four corners of the earth.” 

Some think that there is to be a separate history in 
the future for the ten tribes that were scattered abroad 
and for the two tribes, when Jesus returns. But we are 
clearly taught in this passage that such is not the case. 

Now read Ezek. 36:24: 

“For I will take you from among the nations, 


246 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


and gather you out of all the countries, and will 
bring you into your own land.” 

Now turn to the next chapter, Ezek. 37: 21: 

“And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Je- 
hovah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel 
from among the nations, whither they are gone, 
and will gather them on every side, and bring 
them into their own land.” 

(2) In the second place, As a Result of Jesus, the 
Messiah, Coming Back to this Earth, He will deliver 
Israel in the day when the trials and sufferings of cen- 
turies shall have culminated in the last, the Great, 
Tribulation. We have a picture of this in Zech. 
14: 1-4: 

“Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, when thy 
spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I 
will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; 
and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, 
and the women ravished ; and half of the city shall 
go forth into captivity, and the residue of the 
people shall not be cut off from the city. Then 
shall Jehovah go forth and fight against those 
nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. 
And His feet shall stand in that day upon. the 
Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the 
east; and the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in 
the midst thereof toward the east and toward the 
west, and there shall be a very great valley ; and 
half of the mountain shall remove toward the 
north, and half of it toward the south.” 

The people of Israel have known dark days in the 
past, and the present days are very dark for Israel, 


1HE CHRISTOF THE BIBLE 247 


but still darker days are coming, the culmination of 
Jehovah’s judgment on Israel for all her unfaithfulness 
to Him, and especially for her rejection of the Messiah 
at His first coming, but those dark days shall be short ; 
for in the very hour when the blackest midnight of 
despair has settled down upon Israel and all nations 
are gathered against them, and there seems to be no 
hope, then Jehovah in the Person of the Lord Jesus 
shall Himself come to deliver and to give them victory 
over all their enemies. 

(3) In the third place, At the Return of our Lord 
Jesus in His Glory to the deliverance of His people, 
Israel shall recognize Him as their God for Whom they 
have waited, and there shall be gladness and joy among 
His people Israel. This we are told in Isa. 25:9: 

“And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our 
‘God; we have waited for Him, and He will save 
us: this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we 
will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” 

While this passage can hardly be absolutely limited 
to Israel, the context clearly shows that the primary 
reference is to them (cf. vs. 10-12). 

At this time of our Lord’s Return to the Deliverance 
of His people, and as a result of His Return and of 
that deliverance which He shall bring, every Israelite 
then living upon the earth shall be brought to repent- 
ance and shall be saved. 

This we are told in Rom. 11: 25-27: 

“For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant 
of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own con- 
ceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel 
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in; and 


248 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written, 
There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer; 
He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 
And this is My covenant unto them, 
When I shall take away their sins.” 

At the present day, saved Jews are in a great minor- 
ity among the Jewish people: “In that day,’’ all Jews 
shall be saved; every member of Israel and of Judah 
shall be saved. We find the same thought in the Old 
Testament also, read Jer. 23:5, 6: 

“Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I 
will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He 
shall reign as king and deal wisely, and He shall 
execute justice and righteousness in the land. In 
His days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall 
dwell safely; and this is His name whereby He 
shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness.” 

In this present Dispensation we preach the Gospel 
to the Jews and save a Jew here and there, but the 
saved are a very small minority, but in that day all 
Jews shall be saved. There will not be one unsaved 
Jew or Israelite in all the earth. 

(4) Inthe fourth place, In connection with the Re- 
turn of our Lord and His deliverance of His earthly 
people, Israel shall be cleansed from all their filthiness 
and of all their idolatry, and of all their transgressions; 
anew heart will be given unto them, and a new spirit 
put within them, the stony heart shall be taken away 
from them and they shall be given a heart of flesh. 
God will put His Spirit within them and cause them to 
walk in 1s statutes and they shall keep His Judgments 
and do them. This we read in Ezek. 37: 23: 


THE CHRIST OF (THE BIBLE 249 


“Neither shall they defile themselves any more 
with their idols, nor with their detestable things, 
nor with any of their transgressions; but I will 
save them out of their dwelling-places, wherein 
they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall 
they be My people, and I will be their God.” 

We read words of a similar import in Ezek. 
36: 25-20: 

“And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and 
from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new 
heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I 
put within you; and I will take away the stony 
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a 
heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within 
you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and 
ye shall keep Mine ordinances, and do them, And 
ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your 
fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will he 
your God. And I will save you from all your 
uncleannesses: and [ will call for the grain, and 
I will multiply it, and lay no famine upon 
you.” 

This same great truth is found in other words in 
Jers etasn: 

“Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I 
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, 
and with the house of Judah: not according to the 
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day 
that I took them by the hand to bring them out of 

_ the land of Egypt; which My covenant they brake, 
although I was a Husband unto them, saith Je- 


250 DHE CHRIS Dt Per ED Cares 


hovah. But this is the covenant that I will make 
with the house of Israel after those days, saith 
Jehovah: J will put My law in their inward parts, 
and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their 
God, and they shall be My people: and they shall 
teach no more every man his neighbor, and every 
man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they 
shall all know me, from the least of them unto 
the greatest of them, saith Jehovah, for I will 
forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I re- 
member no more.” 

(5) Inthe fifth place, In connection with the Re- 
turn of our Lord Jesus and as the outcome of the Sal- 
vation of Israel by Him at that time, Israel shall be 
wondrously multiplied and the waste and desolate and 
ruined cities shall be rebuilt and the desolate lands 
shall be made like the garden of Eden. There shall 
be abundance of prosperity and gladness on every 
hand; Jerusalem shall be called the “City of Truth.” 
This we are told over and over again in the prophets. 
Read for example Jer. 31: 27: 

“Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I 
will sow the house of Israel’ and the house of 
Judah with the seed of men, and with the seed of 
beast.’’ 

This of course sets forth a great multiplication of 
men and animals in the land of Israel at that time. 
Read also Ezek. 36: 33-38: 

“Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day that 
I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause 
the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall 
be builded. And the land that was desolate shall 


THE CHRIST OF THE. BIBLE 251 


be tilled, whereas 1t was a desolation in the sight 
of all that passed by. And they shall say, this 
land that was desolate is become like the garden 

- of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined 

cities are fortified and inhabited. Then the na- 
tions that are left round about you shall know that 
I, Jehovah, have builded the ruined places, and 
planted that which was desolate: I, Jehovah, have 
spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the Lord 
Jehovah: for this, moreover, will I be inquired of 
by the house of Israel, to do it for them: J will 
increase them with men like a flock. As the flock 
for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her ap- 
pointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled 
with flocks of men; and they shall know that I 
am Jehovah.” 

Read also Zech. 8: 3-5: 

“Thus saith Jehovah: I am returned unto Zion, 
and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and 
Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth; and 
the mountain of Jehovah of Hosts, The Holy 
mountain. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: There 
shall yet old men and old women dwell in the 
streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in 
his hand for very age. And the streets of the city 
shall be full of boys and girls playing in the 
streets thereof.” 

The Israelites are to-day, taken as a whole, the sad- 
dest people on earth, but on that day they shall be the 
gladdest people on earth. 

(6) In the sixth place, Because of the Return of 
our Lord Jesus and the Deliverance He brings to His 


252 THE CHRISTVOR THE BRIBE 


earthly people, Israel shall be greatly exalted above the 
Nations. This we are told in Zech. 8: 23: 

“Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days 
it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, 
out of all the languages of the nations, they shall 
take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, 
We will go with you, for we have heard that God 
is with you.” 

Nowadays they throw the Jew out by his coat collar: 
in those days they will hold on to him by his coat 
tails. 

Read also Isa. 49: 22, 23: 

“Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, behold, I will 
lift up my hand to the nations, and set up My 
ensign to the peoples; and they shall bring thy 
sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be 
carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be 
thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing 
mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their 
faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet; 
and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah; and they 
that wait for Me shall not be put to shame.” 

The Jew is to-day a sneer and a byword among the 
peoples, but in that day Israel shall be exalted above all 
the nations of the earth. To-day the Gentiles run 
away from the Jews, if a Jew moves into any neigh- 
borhood that neighborhood is doomed; but in that day 
all nations will run after the Jews. 

It is quite the custom among Christian people to 
take all these wonderful Old Testament predictions 
concerning the future glory of Israel and spuritualize 
them and apply them to the Church. That can only 


BLAH CHRIST OR THE BIBLE 253 


be done by a process of violent distortion of the plain 
Word of God, by a method of interpretation which, if 
applied to other portions of the Bible, would utterly 
befog their plainly intended meaning and make them 
mean anything we chose. Christians have been per- 
fectly willing to let the Jew, or the Israelite, have 
all the curses pronounced upon them in the Bible, and 
which have been so wonderfully fulfilled and are being 
so wondrously fulfilled to-day. But they want to keep 
all the future blessings of Israel, equally plainly pre- 
dicted in the Word of God, and appropriate them to 
themselves. It will be a great thing to be a Jew in that 
day. The Jews will be God’s earthly people. There 
will be only one thing better than to be one of God’s 
earthly people, and that is to be one of God’s heavenly 
people, the Church, by having accepted Christ before 
He comes to receive His Church to Himself. Both 
the Jews and the Gentiles who have accepted Jesus as 
Christ before that day, will belong to His heavenly 
people, the Church. 

(7) Inthe seventh place, After the Coming Again 
of our Lord Jesus Christ and as a Result of His bless- 
ing and glorifying Israel, Israel shall go forth as 
preachers of the glory of Jehovah to all nations. ‘This 
we are told in Isa. 66: 19: 

“And I will set a sign among them, and I will 
send such as escape of them (that is of Israel) 
unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that 
draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles 
afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither 
have seen My glory; and they shall declare My 
glory among the nations.” 


2s4 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


The greatest period of missionary activity and 
achievement in the world’s history lies in the future. 
It will be in connection with the Return of our Lord, 
and the Jews will be the missionaries. The world has 
seen in the case of Saul, transformed into Paul the 
Apostle, what one converted Jew can do. The world 
is waiting to see what a whole nation of converted 
Jews can do. 

3. We\come now to, THE RESULTS OR iras 
RETURN OF THE LORD JESUS AS REGARDS 
THE GENTILE NATIONS AND UNREGENER- 
ATE INDIVIDUALS. 

(1) Inthe first place, At the Return of our Lord 
Jesus all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him. 
This we read in Matt. 24: 30: 

“And then shail appear the sign of the Son of 
man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of 
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of 
man coming on the clouds of heaven with great 
power and great glory.” 

In a similar way we are told in Rev. 1:7: 

“Behold, He cometh with the clouds; and every 
eye shall see Him, and they that pierced Him; 
and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over 
Him.” 

The day of our Lord’s Return will be the gladdest 
day they ever knew for all His people, but it will be 
the saddest day they ever knew for those who are not 
His people. 

(2) In the second place, When the Lord Jesus 
comes back to this Earth with His Angels, and with 
His people, all nations then living upon the Earth: shall 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 25s 


be gathered before Him for judgment and He shall 
separate them one from another as a shepherd separates 
his sheep from the goats, the sheep on His right hand 
and the goats on His left hand. This we are told in 
Matt. 25: 31-33: 

“But when the Son of man shall come in His 
glory, and all the angels with Him, then shall He 
sit on the throne of His glory: and before Him 
shall be gathered all the nations: and He shall 
separate them one from another, as a shepherd 
separateth the sheep from the goats; and He shall 
set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on 
the left.”’ 

This passage is sometimes taken to refer to the judg- 
ment of the living nations as nations, but from a care- 
ful study of the entire passage one will clearly see that 
it will be a judgment of individuals in the nations. It 
is furthermore to be noted, that it is not said that this 
occurs immediately upon the coming of Jesus Christ 
to the earth. 

(3) In the third place, At the Return of Jesus 
Christ to this Earth He shall render vengeance to those 
who know not God and who have not obeyed the 
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they shall “suffer 
punishment, even eternal destruction, from the face of 
the Lord and from the glory of His power.” This 
we are told in 2 Thess. 1: 7-9: 

“And to you that are afflicted rest with us, at 
the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with 
the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering 
vengeance to them that know not God, and to 
them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: 


256 THE; CHRIST OFTHE BIBEES 


who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruc- 
tion from the face of the Lord and from the glory 
of His might.” 

This is the great Bible argument for accepting Christ 
at once. As Jesus Himself put it in Matt. 24:44: - 

“Therefore be ye also ready; for at an hour 
that ye think not the Son of man cometh.” 

(4) In the fourth place, At the Coming again of 
the Lord Jesus there will be a great turning to God 
among the Gentile peoples. This we are told in Acts 
LS dLO iz 

“After these things I will return, 

And I will build again the tabernacle of David, 

which is fallen; 

And I will build again the ruins thereof, 

And I will set it up: 

That the residue of men may seek after the 

Lord, 

And all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is 

called.” 

This same truth is hinted at in various places in 
Scripture, for example in Isa. 2: 2, 3: 

“And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that 
the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be estab- 
lished on the top of the mountains, and shall be 
exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow 
unto it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come 
ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, 
to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will 
teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His 
paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and 
the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 257 


Read also Zech. 8: 20-23: 

“Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: It shall yet come 
to pass, that there shall come peoples, and the in- 
habitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of 
one city shall go to another, saying, let us go 
speedily to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to 
seek Jehovah of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many 
peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Je- 
hovah of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the 
favor of Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: 
In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men 
shall take hold, out of all the languages of the 
nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him 
that is a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we 
have heard that God is with you.” 

We are told distinctly in the New Testament that if 
the temporary rejection of Israel made a place for the 
receiving of the Gentiles, and thus became “‘the riches 
of the world,” the restoration of Israel shall ‘‘much 
more” bring blessing to the Gentile nations. Here are 
Paul’s own words as found in Rom. 11:11, 12: 

“I say then, Did they stumble that they might 
fall? God forbid: but by their fall salvation is 
come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jeal- 
ousy. Now if their fall is the riches of the world, 
and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how 
much more their fulness?” 

The question of course arises, If Christ immediately 
after His coming gathers the nations and Jews and 
separates them and consigns them to their eternal 
destiny, how can there come a conversion of nations 
that are still unconverted at the time of His coming? 


258 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


The answer to this question is simple: The Bible no- 
where says that “immediately after’? His coming the 
nations will be gathered, judged, separated and con- 
signed to their eternal destiny. Our whole difficulty, 
as well as many of our other difficulties, arises from 
the fact that we assume what the Bible never asserts 
(nor even in any way implies), namely, that the things 
connected with the coming of our Lord are all crowded 
into a single day or a few days or even a year. These 
events are connected with and result from His coming, 
but they take time for their development. Therefore 
things that appear to plainly contradict one another, do 
not contradict one another at all if we only bear in 
mind exactly what the Bible says about what is to 
occur, and do not add to what is actually written some 
opinion of our own. It is clearly evident from many 
Scriptures that, while the Bible does assert that those 
who reject Christ in this present dispensation, those 
who “know not God and obey not the Gospel,” shail 
be “punished with everlasting destruction” at the com- 
ing of the Lord, it is also plainly evident that at some 
point after His coming there will be a conversion, not 
only of the Jewish people, but, through Jewish instru- 
mentality, of many Gentiles and apparently of whole 
Gentile nations. This may, however, be largely or en- 
tirely from the nations not as yet thoroughly evan- 
gelized. What we are most concerned about are the 
facts, and not the exact order of the facts, nor the 
philosophy of the facts. The prophecies regarding His 
coming no more intend to give us a definite and de- 
tailed history in their exact order of all the events 
connected with our Lord’s Return than other prophe- 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 25g 


cies in the Bible give us a definite and detailed history 
in their exact order of the events predicted. The 
prophecies in the Old Testament concerning His first 
coming to die an atoning sacrifice, do not give a definite 
and detailed history in the exact order of the events 
connected with His first Coming. The great, important 
facts which it is necessary we should know in order to 
keep us watching and to cheer our hearts and fire us 
for our work, are given in outline. We should al- 
ways remember in studying prophecy, that while 
prophecy is exactly and literally true in every word, 
that prophecy is not history, and often in the prophet- 
ical perspective, events that are widely separated from 
one another in time, are mentioned together. For ex- 
ample, we are told in 2 Tim. 4:1, that Jesus Christ is 
coming again “to judge the living and the dead”; but 
we also know by comparison with other Scriptures that 
the judgment of the dead is separated from the judg- 
ment of the living by a thousand years. (See also 
Isa. 61:1, 2; cp. Luke 4: 18-20). 

4. Now let us look at, THE RESULTS OF THE 
RETURN TO THIS EARTH OF JESUS CHRIST 
AS REGARDS THE ANTI-CHRIST, AND THE 
DEVIL. 

(1) In the first place, When the Lord Jesus comes 
back to the earth with His saints, the Anti-Christ, wha 
has exerted tremendous power and to whom all the 
nations of the earth have become subject, shall be slain. 
(more literally, taken away or abolished) by the breath 
of Christ's mouth and brought to nought (more ex- 
actly, rendered inoperative) by the manifestation of 
His coming. This we learn from 2 Thess. 2: 3-8: 


260 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


“Let no man beguile you in any wise: for it will 
not be, except the falling away come first and the 
man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, he 
that opposeth and exalteth himself against all 
that is called God or that is worshipped; so that 
he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself 
forth as God. Remember ye not, that, when | 
was yet with you, I told you these things? And 
now ye know that which restraineth, to the end 
that he may be revealed in his own season. For 
the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: 
only there is one that restraineth now, until he be 
taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed 
the lawless one whom the Lord Jesus shall slay 
with the breath of His mouth, and bring to nought 
by the manifestation of His coming.” 

There are many anti-christs to-day (1 Jno. 2:18), 
many that set themselves up against Jesus, the true 
Christ, the Christ of the Bible; but there is to be one 
great Anti-christ, in whom all these lesser anti-christs 
will head up. This great Anti-christ, the Anti-christ, 
“the Prince that shall come,’ of whom Daniel speaks 
in Dan. 9: 26, 27, will have in the years just preceding 
the coming of Christ to the earth with His saints (not 
preceding His coming in the air for His saints, who 
shall be caught up into the air and shall be there during 
the period of the Anti-christ’s activity on earth, but 
before His coming to the earth with His saints) shall 
have a period of great triumph and wide recognition 
and dominion. But his day will be brief and end in 
his utter confusion and overthrow by the coming of 
our Lord Jesus, and the earth shall be delivered from 


THE CHRIS HOR THE BIBLE 261 


his awful dominion. The awful doom that will over- 
take the Anti-christ and his armies is described in 
REY AI03'19, 205 

“And I saw the beast, and the kings of the 
earth, and their armies, gathered together to make 
war against Him that sat upon the horse, and 
against His army. And the best was taken, and 
with him the false prophet that wrought the signs 
in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had 
received the mark of the beast and them that 
worshipped his image: they two were cast alive 
into the lake of fire that burneth with brim- 
stone.” 

The story of his doom is completed in Rev. 20: 10: 

“And the Devil that deceived them was cast into 
the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the 
beast and the false prophet (we see from the 
context that they had already been there a thou- 
sand years); and they shall be tormented day and 
night for ever and ever. 

(2) Now let us look at what happens to the Devil. 
As a Result of our Lord’s Return the Devil will be 
chained and cast into the abyss for a thousand years 
and then after a little space of liberty, be “cast into 
the lake of fire’ where he, together with the beast and 
false prophet, “shall be tormented day and night for 
ever and ever.’ This we are told in Rev. 20: 1-3 and 
Rev. 20:10. Read first Rev. 20: 1-3: 

“And I saw an angel coming down out of 
heaven, having the key to the abyss and a great 
chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the 
dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and 


262 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and 
cast him into the abyss and shut it, and sealed it 
over him, that he should deceive the nations no 
more, until the thousand years shall be finished: 
after this he must be loosed for a little time.” 

Now we turn, to see his final destiny, to the tenth 
verse of the same chapter, Rev. 20: 10: 

“And the Devil that deceived them was cast into 
the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the 
beast and false prophet; and they shall be tor- 
mented day and night for ever and ever.” 

5. Now let us look at, THE RESULTS OF THE 
RETURN TO THIS EARTH OF OUR LORD AS 
REGARDS HUMAN SOCIETY AS A WHOLE. 

(1) Inthe first place, As a Result of the Return of 
our Lord Jesus the kingdom of this world shall be- 
come the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and 
fle shall reign forever and ever. This we are told in 
REVELL TS: 

“And the seventh angel sounded; and there fol- 
lowed great voices in heaven, and they said the 
kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of 
our Lord and of His Christ: and He shall reign 
for ever and ever.” 

In the Old Testament we read of the extent of Mes- 
siah’s Kingdom in that day in Zech. 9: 10: 

“And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, 
and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow 
shall be cut off; and He shall speak peace unto 
the nations: and His dominion shall be from sea 
to sea, and from the River to the ends of the 
earth,” 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE _ 263 


Of the beneficent character of His reign we read in 
the 45th. and 72nd. Psalms as well as elsewhere. 

(2) Inthe second place, As a Result of our Lord’s 
Return and His Universal Reign that follows it, wars 
shall cease, peace and plenty shall reign and the right- 
eous shall flourish. This we are told in Isa. 2:4: 

“And He will judge between the nations, and 
will decide concerning many peoples; and they 
shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and 
their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not 
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they 
learn war any more.” 

Along the same line we read in Micah 4:3: 

“And He will judge between many peoples, and 
will decide concerning strong nations afar off: and 
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, 
and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall 
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall 
they learn war any more.” 

All the Versailles Conferences and “International 
Courts” will not bring abiding peace among nations, 
but the Return of the Lord Jesus will. We are told 
something still further regarding His reign on earth 
in Pears 78. 10: 

“Tn His day shall the righteous flourish, 

And abundance of peace, till the moon be no 

more. 

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, 

And from the River unto the ends of the 

CAPE: (EO) 

There shall be abundance of grain in the earth 

upon the tops of the mountains ; 


264 THE *CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: 

And they of the city shall flourish like grass of 

the earth.” 

(3) In the third place, The Earth shall be full of 
the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea. 
This God tells us in Isa. 11:9: 

“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My 
holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the 
sea.” 

True knowledge and knowledge of the highest sort, 
the knowledge of Jehovah, shall abound everywhere. 
There will be universal knowledge and universal 
righteousness. All social problems shall be solved; 
righteousness shall triumph in every land and on every 
hand. 

The day of our Lord’s Return and reign will in- 
deed be “the Golden Age” of this earth. It will 
realize all and far more than all that has ever been 
dreamed of by poets and social philosophers. We may 
well cry, “Amen, come, Lord Jesus.” 

6. Now let us consider, THE RESULTS OF THE 
RETURN OF THE LORD OF THIS EARTH AS 
REGARDS THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE. 

(1) First of all, As a Result of the Return of our 
Lord Jesus the physical Creation itself shall be deliv- 
ered from the bondage of corruption, to which it is now 
subject, into the liberty of the glory of the children of 
God. Thorns and briars and carnage shall be no more: 
the wilderness and solitary places shall be glad and the 
desert shall rejoice and blossom as arose. This we are 
told in Rom. 8: 19-21: 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 265 


“For the earnest expectation of the creation 
waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For 
the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its 
own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, 
in hope that the creation itself also shall be deliv- 
ered from the bondage of corruption into the 
liberty of the glory of the children of God.” 

We have another glimpse of that day in Isa. 55: 13: 

“Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree; 
and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle 
tree: and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an 
everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” 

Read also Isa. 65:25: 

“The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and 
the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall 
be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor 
destroy in all My holy mountain, saith Jehovah.” 

Read Isa. 32:15: 

“Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on 
high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, 
and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest.” 

Once more let me read Isa. 35:1: 

“The wilderness and the dry lands shall be 
glad; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a 
rose.” 

The Return of the Lord Jesus to this earth will do 
more to reclaim the barren deserts of the earth than 
all the reclamation and irrigation schemes that were 
ever devised by man. The physical creation has par- 
ticipated in man’s ruin because of man’s sin, but at 
the Return of the Lord it shall also participate in the 
glorious Results of man’s redemption. 


266 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


(2) In the second place, As the Final Outcome of 
Chnst’s Coming again, heaven and earth shall be 
purged by fire and there shall be a new heaven and a 
new earth, free from all imperfections of every kind. 
This we are told in 2 Pet. 3: 10-13: 

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; 
in which the heavens shall pass away with a great 
noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fer- 
vent heat, and the earth and the works that are 
therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these 
things are all to be dissolved, what manner of 
persons ought ye to be in all holy living and 
godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the 
coming of the day of God, by reason of which the 
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the 
elements shall melt with fervent heat? But, ac- 
cording to His promise, we look for a new heav- 
ens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth right- 
eousness.” 

The burning up here referred to apparently is not 
so much for judgment as for cleansing and refining 
and reforming and purifying and glorifying. It is not 
so much something to dread as something we should 
“eagerly desire” and “look for.’’ 

The thought of the coming new and incomparably 
better heaven and earth is found also in Rev. 21:1: 

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: 
for the first heaven and the first earth are passed 
away; and the sea is no more.” 

In Rev. 21: 1-27 we have a marvelous picture of the 
coming new heaven and new earth. Read the entire 
passage for yourself. 


Die CHRIST Oberle BIBLE 267 


To sum up all the strange and wonderful and in- 
conceivably glorious results of the Return of our Lord 
Jesus from heaven, where He now is, to this earth, 
where we now are and where He once was: 


AS THE RESULT OF THE COMING BACK 
WOVE > EARTH OF JESUSSTABR/GHRIST OF 
Po DIBEE, CHE ‘ONLY: TRU GHRIST, 
THERE WILL BE A NEW AND GLORIOUS 
MAN, CLOTHED UPON WITH A NEW AND 
GLORIOUS BODY, LIVING IN A NEW AND 
GLORIOUS HUMAN SOCIETY, IN A _ RE- 
DEEMED AND NEW AND GLORIOUS PHYS- 
ICAL UNIVERSE. 


The loftiest dreams of poets and social philosophers 
will be far more than realized. The glory of that 
Coming Day no words can express and no human 
imagination can conceive, and all that glory depends 
upon the Return of our Lord Jesus. 

Is it any wonder that the unceasing cry of the in- 
dividual Christian is, ‘Even so, Lord Jesus, come 
quickly”? There are many things that I long for, but 
nothing else for which I so long as I long for the 
Coming Back Again of Christ Jesus to this old and 
sin-cursed earth. I would like to see a great revival, 
surpassing any revival the world has ever seen, but the 
greatest of all revivals will be the Coming Back of 
Jesus from heaven, where He now is, to this earth. 


268 THESCHRIS TOE ai pbs Bick 


V. THE TIME WHEN JESUS, THE CHRIST OF THE 
BIBLE, THE ONLY TRUE CHRIST, IS COMING 
BACK FROM HEAVEN, WHERE HE NOW IS, TO 
THIS EARTH, WHERE WE NOW ARE be 
WHERE HE ONCE WAS. 


We come now to the question, When will Jesus, the 
Christ of the Bible, the only True Christ, Return from 
Heaven, where He now is, to this Earth, where we now 
are and where He once was? There is more division 
and controversy on that question than on any other 
question connected with our Lord’s Return. There are 
many who believe that He is coming again and that 
He is coming personally and visibly, and that He is 
coming with great publicity, and that He is coming on 
the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, but 
who, when they come to the question, When is He 
coming, part company from one another. The two 
main divisions of those who believe in a personal, 
visible coming of the Lord are known as “Premille- 
narians” and “Postmillenarians.” Those who believe 
that He is coming before the Millennium, and that 
the Millennium is the result of His coming, are called 
“Premillenarians,’ and those who believe that He is 
coming after the Millennium are called ‘“Postmille- 
narians.” ‘There is still a third class, who are neither 
Premillenarians nor Postmillenarians, because they do 
not believe that there is to be a Millennium. They 
believe that the words about the “thousand years” are 
purely figurative. They say, furthermore, that there 
is but one passage in the Bible that mentions the 
Millennium at all, and that is in the most figurative 
book in the Bible, the book of Revelation. Which of 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 269 


these three classes are right? What does the Bible 
say on the question of the Time of our Lord’s Return? 
We shall find that it says a great deal, and that what 
it says is very clear, and as definite as words can 
make it. 

1. The first thing that the Bible teaches in regard 
to the time of our Lord’s return is that, No man 
knows, and no man can know, the exact tume of our 
Lord’s return. On that point, the Bible is as clear as 
language can make it, and as emphatic as it is clear. 
Listen to the words of our Lord Jesus Himself in 
Matt. 24: 36, 42: 

“But of that day and hour knoweth no one, 
not even the angels, neither the Son, but the 
Father only. . . . Watch therefore: for ye know 
not on what day your Lord cometh.” 

These words of our Lord are as clear and em- 
phatic as are His words in which He declared that 
He was coming back, and coming back personally. It 
is impossible for any one to attempt to set dates for 
the coming of Jesus Christ and remain submissive in 
his mind to the authority of Jesus Christ Himself. 
Jesus Christ Himself, as a Man, refused to at- 
tempt to penetrate this question that the Father had 
set within His own authority, thus setting an example 
for us; and for any one of us to attempt to do what 
the Lord Jesus Christ (as a Man) would not do, is 
the most daring and wicked presumption. When any 
man says to me any year, as has been said to me in 
two or three different years, “I am very sure the Lord 
Jesus is coming for His church at Easter,” or, as some 
have said, “‘at Pentecost,” or, “at the Feast of Trum- 


270 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


pets,” I feel like saying to him, and I would be per- 
fectly warranted in saying to him, “How dare you, 
sir? How dare you seek to penetrate the mystery that 
the Lord Jesus (as a Man), solemnly setting us an 
example to follow in His steps, did not venture to 
penetrate ?”’ 

But let me read you another utterance of our Lord 
Jesus Christ equally explicit, Acts 1:6, 7: 

“They, therefore, when they were come to- 
gether, asked Him saying, Lord, dost thou at this 
time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said 
unto them, Jt is not for you to know times or 
seasons, which the Father hath set within His 
own authority.” 

In these words, the meaning of which, when taken 
in their connection, is as plain as day, our Lord Jesus 
absolutely forbade even His inspired apostles, and 
much more us, to seek to penetrate the domain of 
dates in connection with His coming and His kingdom, 
saying that these belonged to the exclusive authority of 
God the Father, that God the Father “hath set” them 
“within His own authority.” In the face of this plain 
and solemn declaration of our Lord, for any one to 
dare to set a date, even tentatively, for the coming of 
Christ or for the rapture of the church, or for “the end 
of the Times of the Gentiles,’ or for anything of that 
kind, is to commit an act of rank and gross disobedi- 
ence to our Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one phrase 
that can adequately describe such conduct, and that 
phrase is “presumptuous wickedness.” A dearly be- 
loved friend of mine once attempted to do this, and 
brought his manuscript to me for criticism. On read- 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 271 


ing his manuscript I pointed out to him this verse, 
Acts 1:7, and pled with him not to publish his manu- 
script. He asked me, “Cannot the verse be interpreted 
in this way: ‘It is not for you to know the times or 
seasons, which the Father hath set within His own 
authority,’ but you can know other times and’ seasons 
which the Father hath not set within His own au- 
thority, and the time of our Lord’s return and the 
rapture of the church may be one of these times or 
seasons which the Father hath not set within His own 
authority?” I told him, what is unquestionably true, 
that this was not only not a good, honest, straight- 
forward interpretation but an evasion, but that, fur- 
thermore, the interpretation was absolutely impossible 
when we consider the Greek text. In the Greek text 
(as also in the Revised Version), there is no “the’’ be- 
fore “times or seasons,” so that while this interpreta- 
tion might be a possible one, though not a likely one, 
of the Authorized Version, it is an absolutely impos- 
sible interpretation of the Greek text. The attempt to 
explain away Acts 1:7 is as disloyal to Jesus Christ 
as an attempt to explain away Jno. 14:1, 2 or 1 Thess. 
4:16,17. All this date-setting business is not merely 
foolish, it is wicked, it is grossly wicked, it is showing 
contempt for our Lord Jesus Christ. Any one who 
attempts to set a date for our Lord’s return is by that 
fact discredited as a teacher of the Word. 

The setting of dates is usually attempted on the 
ground of calculations from the data given in the book 
of Daniel, but the data given in the book of Daniel 
were not intended to in any wise help us to fix the 
exact date of our Lord’s return. Bible statements of 


272 EEC C BRS COI TURE abe ee 


dates have to do with God’s dealings with the Jews; 
and, therefore, the time in which the Jew is set aside 
and God deals with the Gentiles is an indefinite and 
indeterminate interval. Any calculations, therefore, 
built upon the data in the book of Daniel are utterly 
unreliable, because there we have fixed years, plus 
other fixed years, plus an unknown quantity, and, 
therefore, all the attempts to set a time are attempts 
at the impossible. It cannot be emphasized too 
strongly that the statements of time made in the book 
of Daniel were never intended of God to give us any 
clew whatever to the exact date of our Lord’s return. 

Furthermore, the prophecies in the book of Daniel 
were extant in the day when our Lord Jesus uttered 
the words quoted from Matt. 24: 36, “But of that day 
and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels, neither 
the Son, but the Father only.’”’ If even the Lord Jesus 
Himself could not, or would not, determine the date 
from the data in Daniel, we certainly ought not to 
expect or try to. Our Lord certainly understood the 
lessons the prophecies of Daniel were intended to 
teach, but He distinctly declares that as a Man, setting 
us an example that we should humbly follow in His 
steps, He voluntarily put aside the knowledge of the 
date of His return, so that He Himself (as a Man) 
did not know the day nor the hour of His return. 
Any one who attempts from the data in Daniel, or 
from anything else in the Bible, to set a date for the 
return of our Lord Jesus is guilty of the daring pre- 
sumption of setting himself above the Lord Jesus and 
attempting to do what the Lord Jesus Himself in the 
most solemn and the sternest terms has forbidden us 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 273 


to do: in awful presumption he is trying to find out 
things that the Lord Jesus tells us “the Father hath set 
within His own authority,” and with which, therefore, 
we must not meddle. 

Furthermore, it is a part of God’s purpose and 
method in dealing with men to keep them in uncer- 
tainty on this matter of the time of our Lord’s return, 
in order that we may keep ourselves in readiness for 
His return at all times. If the date had been revealed 
in Bible times, no one who understood the Bible could 
be watching and waiting for the Lord’s return until 
to-day. The mania for setting dates cannot be too 
strongly rebuked. It has done more to bring the 
whole precious doctrine of our Lord’s coming into dis- 
repute than anything else has. The one who does it 
is doing the Devil’s work. 

2. But while the Bible clearly tells us that it is not 
the will of God that we know the date or try to know 
the date of our Lord’s return, nevertheless the Bible 
tells us a great deal about the character of the time 
when our Lord shall return, and about what will pre- 
cede His return and what will come after it. The 
Bible tells us that the return of our Lord to this earth 
will be at such a time as even His disciples think not. 
Even the faithful and wise servant will be taken un- 
awares, but he will be found doing his Master’s will. 
This we are told in Matt. 24: 44-46: 

“Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour 
that ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who 
then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his 
lord hath set over his household, to give them 
their food in due season? Blessed is that servant, 


274 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


whom his lord when He cometh shall find so 
doing.” 

It is evident from this passage that the time of our 
Lord’s return will not be a time when everybody is 
expecting His coming, but a time when people are not 
expecting it. The fact that people in general are not 
expecting the Lord’s coming to-day is no proof that 
He is not coming to-day; it is rather an indication that 
He may come to-day, for it is at just such an hour as 
this that “the Son of Man cometh.” 

3. In the third place, The Lord Jesus will come 
again im a time when the world is absorbed in its 
usual occupations. This is evident from Luke 17: 
26-30: 

“And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, 
even so shall it be also in the days of the Son of 
man. They ate, they drank, they married, they 
were given in marriage, until the day that Noah 
entered into the ark, and the flood came, and de- 
stroyed them all. Likewise even as it came to 
pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they 
bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but 
in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained 
fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed 
them all: after the same manner shall it be in the 
day that the Son of man is revealed.” 

From these words of our Lord Jesus it is perfectly 
clear that the time of His coming will be in a day 
when the world is absorbed in its usual occupations, 
and that it will not be a time when men are expecting 
Him to come, when they are gathered in white robes 
on hilltops awaiting His appearing; everything will be 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE — 27s 


going on just as usual when the Son of Man shall be 
revealed. Stores will be in full operation, streets will 
be crowded with people, theaters and other places of 
amusement will be full, worldlings will be card-play- 
ing, dancing, carousing, and doing all manner of fool- 
ish, worldly and selfish things, business will be going 
on just as usual, and without a moment’s warning the 
Lord will appear. It will be exactly such a time as 
the present time, exactly such a day as to-day. 

4. In the fourth place, The time of our Lord’s re- 
turn will be a time of apostasy, a time when men are 
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of 
demons, 1.€., a time of multiplying cults and of great 
wmroads of the occult, grievous times, a time of the tri- 
umphing of errors and isms, and true faith will be 
hard to find. This is plain from 1 Tim. 4:1, 2: 

“But the Spirit saith expressly, that in later 
times some shall fall away from the faith, giving 
heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, 
through the hypocrisy of men, that speak lies, 
branded in their own conscience as with a hot 
iron,” 

The “doctrines of demons” in this passage refer to 
doctrines taught by demons. It has a clear reference 
to the “occult,” to Spiritualism and similar cults. 

We see, also, the character of the times of our Lord’s 
return similarly depicted in 2 Tim. 3: 1-5: 

“But know this, that in the last days grievous 
times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, 
lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, dis- 
obedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without 
natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without 


276 VR CHRIST OPT Ee binicr 


self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, 
headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather 
than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, 
but having denied the power thereof: from these 
also turn away.” | 
In this passage, as well as in the preceding passage 
that we read, there is a most vivid and accurately char- 
acteristic picture of our own day, as would clearly ap- 
pear if we should take up the passages in detail, for we 
certainly live in a day in which men are “lovers of 
money” as in almost no other day in the world’s his- 
tory. We live in a day when both rich and poor are 
money-mad. We live in a day of most extraordinary 
boastfulness; the boastfulness of the day has invaded 
not only our business and our politics, but the domain 
of philosophy and science. Never was there a day in 
which “railers” were more in evidence or more auda- 
cious. “Disobedience to parents’ is a characteristic 
everywhere of home life. General society is becoming 
appallingly “without natural affection,’ seen in the 
appalling increase of divorce and in the parents’ dis- 
regard for the highest interests of their children. 
Never was there a day of the utmost savagery, when 
men were so fierce, as all nations showed themselves 
in the late war. It is a day when it is startlingly true, 
that men and women are “lovers of pleasure rather 
than lovers of God” (the craze for amusements has 
reached an extraordinary pitch), and on every hand 
we see people “holding a form of godliness but hav- 
ing denied the power thereof,” there is such a multi- 
plicity of religions as never before in the history of 
the world, and. yet most of these religions are without 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 277 


the real power of God in them, mere form. People 
have gone wildly enthusiastic over the number of 
people that are following in these days some religion, 
but religion itself is not necessarily a good thing, it 
depends upon the character of the religion; “a form of 
godliness” without “the power thereof” is worse than 
no religion at all. 

Our Lord sets forth again the fact that the time of 
His return will be in a time of apostasy in Luke 18:8: 

“When the Son of man cometh, shall He find 
faith on the earth?” 

The clear implication of this passage is that at the 
time when the Son of Man comes back again it will be 
a time when true faith is hard to find. 

From all these passages it is evident that the time 
of the return of the Lord Jesus from heaven to earth 
will be a time of apostasy, a time when men are giving 
heed to “seducing spirits” and “doctrines of demons,” 
i.e., to false doctrines and to various forms of occult- 
ism, such as Spiritualism and Theosophy, “grievous 
times,’ when true faith will be difficult to find. It 
will not be a time of universal righteousness, it will 
not be a millennial time; it will be anything but that. 
The words of Paul in 1 Tim. 4:1, that the later times 
will be times when some shall “give heed to seducing 
spirits and doctrines of demons,” indicate a time when 
men will be so anxious to be taught by unseen, spiritual 
beings that they will not be careful to distinguish be- 
tween the Holy Spirit and other spirits, and so will 
surrender themselves to be controlled by and taught 
by “demons.” This is an actual and very marked 
characteristic of our times, and this characteristic of 


278 | THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


our times has increased enormously since the outbreak 
of the war, when the pursuit of the occult seems to 
have become the absorbing passion of the hour with 
many, both in the church and out of it. As we have 
said, we have one manifestation of this in “Spiritual- 
ism,” another in “Theosophy,” and still another in 
some forms of the Tongues Movement. Spiritualism 
and some forms of the Tongues Movement are closely 
allied, as could be shown by acts of which I personally 
know, if there were time to go into it. 2 Tim. 3: I-5 
gives, as has been indicated, a remarkably accurate 
and detailed picture of our own times, and from that 
fact many conclude that the Lord must be necessarily 
coming very soon, but that does not necessarily follow. 
In times now long gone by, earnest men of God, in- 
telligent students of the Bible, have often thought, be- 
cause of the similarity in some respects of their own 
days to the times described in the Bible, that the com- 
ing of the Lord was very near. Martin Luther, for 
example, so thought in his own day, and the words 
which we have read were characteristic of his day, 
though they were not so characteristic of his day as 
they are of our own day. These men of the past, 
who thought that the coming of the Lord was very 
near were not mistaken, for it was near. The ones 
who were mistaken were the ones who thought that it 
was so far away that they let it have no effect on their 
own lives. Nevertheless, the fact that they felt so 
deeply that the coming of our Lord was near should 
make us cautious about asserting dogmatically that 
the Lord will come this year or next year or even in 
the days of any of us who are now living; He may, 


Mebele bist L Ote LTH Bly 279 


but we must not say “He will.’’ But certainly these 
passages, which so clearly and wonderfully depict our 
own time, should make us thoughtful and watchful. 
The multiplying iniquities of our day, the apostasy 
of so many professing Christians and even ministers 
and professors of Theology, into the most daring and 
damning forms of unbelief, even going so far as to 
deny the Virgin Birth of our Lord and the Resurrec- 
tion of His Body from the Dead and the final and abso- 
lute authority of the Scriptures, and also the lawless- 
ness of the great corporations on the one hand and of 
the oppressed laboring classes on the other hand, the 
appalling outbreak of the war spirit in every land, in 
spite of all the schemes of politicians and statesmen 
and the monied interests to curb it, all these things 
are signs that the age is fast approaching its end, and 
therefore a sign that His coming may be very near 
at hand. Men’s hearts are “fainting for fear, and for 
expectation of the things which are coming on the 
world” (Luke 21:26). The greatest statesmen of our 
own land, and of all other lands, have the most anxious 
forebodings as to what the future, and the very near 
future, will bring forth. All this would indicate the 
very near appearing of our Lord; and He Himself has 
told us that when we see “these things begin to come 
to pass” we are to “look up and lift up your heads; 
because your redemption draweth nigh.” But even 
this does not warrant us in asserting positively that 
our Lord will come this year or next year or even in 
a few years; for there have been times of apostasy in 
the past, indeed there have been times of more wide- 
spread and more thoroughgoing apostasy than in the 


280 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


present day, and there have also been times in the past 
when men’s hearts have been “fainting for fear, and 
for expectation of the things which were coming on 
the world.” If godly men in those days had pre- 
dicted positively that our Lord would come within a 
certain fixed time, or even within a hundred years, 
they would have been wrong, and would have brought 
dishonor upon the truth. Nevertheless, as the days 
grow so rapidly darker, it is right that our hearts 
should grow more expectant and more hopeful with 
the assurance that the Lord is at the door. 

5. In the fifth place, The Bible solemnly commands 
us to be always looking and ready for the Lord’s re- 
turn. Iherefore, the return of our Lord to this earth 
must be an event that, so far as we know, may occur 
at any moment. Read, for example, Mark 13 : 34-36: 

“It is as when a man, sojourning in another 
country, having left his house, and given author- 
ity to his servants, to each one his work, com- 
manded also the porter to watch. Watch there- 
fore: for ye know not when the lord of the house 
cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at 
cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest coming 
suddenly he find you sleeping.” 

Read, also, Luke 12: 35, 36: 

“Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps 
burning; and be ye yourselves like unto men look- 
ing for their lord, when he shall return from the 
marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knock- 
eth, they may straightway open unto him.” 

And read, also, our Lord’s words in Matt. a5 tae 

“Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor 
the hour.” 


THE. CHRIST OF) THE BIBLE 281 


In these passages we are commanded to be “‘watch- 
ing,’ “looking,” “waiting” and “ready.” It is im- 
possible to be watching or looking for an event that 
we know cannot occur for one thousand years or for 
seven years or for any set number of years. It is 
true that there were individual believers, as, for 
example, Peter, and also Paul in the latter part of his 
life, to whom the Lord made it clear that they should 
pass away before He came, but this was individual 
dealing with individual men. As far as the body of 
believers as a whole were concerned, they were told 
that they were to be watching, looking and ready for 
His coming. Therefore, as far as they were con- 
cerned, as far as you and I are concerned, the return 
of our Lord Jesus is an event that may occur at any 
time. 

These various passages are all as plain as day, and 
show clearly that we are always to be watching, look- 
ing and ready for the Lord’s return, and therefore His 
return may be an event that, as far as we know, may 
occur at any moment. 

No event is predicted in Scripture, and no series of 
events, that must occur before Jesus comes in the air 
to receive His own unto Himself. There are things 
predicted that must occur before He comes to the 
earth with His saints, but He may come for us, as far 
as we know, at any moment; and it stands us in hand 
to be always ready, for “in an hour that ye think not, 
the Son of man cometh.” 

The question will arise at this point, What about 
2 Thess. 2: 2-4: 

“To the end that ye be not quickly shaken from 


282 THE CHRIST OF. THE BIBLE 


your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, 
or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the 
day of the Lord is just as hand; let no man be- 
guile you in any wise: for it will not be, except 
the falling away come first, and the man of sin 
be revealed, the son of perdition, he that opposeth 
and exalteth himself against all that is called God 
or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the 
temple of God, setting himself forth as God.” 
Here we are told that the great apostasy and the 
outward manifestation of the Man of Sin must occur 
before “the day of the Lord” comes, and some one 
might ask, ‘““How, then, can our Lord come until the 
Man of Sin is clearly revealed?’ The answer to this 
seeming difficulty is very simple, and it is this—“the 
day of the Lord” is not the time of the Lord’s coming 
in the air to receive His church to Himself. “The 
day of the Lord” is the time of the Lord’s coming to 
the earth with His saints to execute judgment on the 
earth, and that is preceded by the coming of the Lord 
to receive the Bride, His Church, to Himself (1 Thess. 
4:15-17). There is nothing to show that a consider- 
able interval may not occur between the coming of 
Christ in the air for His saints and His coming with 
His saints to the earth, and in that interval “the Man 
of Sin” will be revealed. Indeed, there are clear in- 
dications that there must be an interval. First of all, 
Christ has much to do with the church in the air be- 
fore He comes with the church to the earth; and, fur- 
thermore, as we have seen, it is clearly taught that 
the church is to be caught away out of the world be- 
fore “The Great Tribulation,” which accompanies the 


THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 283 


manifestation of “the Man of Sin.” In addition to 
all this, we are taught in this very chapter, in the 
immediate connection with the verses that we are con- 
sidering, that “the lawless one’ cannot be revealed 
until the restraining power “be taken out of the way.’’ 
What is this restraining power? We are not distinctly 
told in the passage what it is, though we are told that 
the Thessalonians knew what it was, The restraining 
power must either be the church or the Holy Spirit; 
therefore, “the Man of Sin’ cannot be revealed until 
the church is taken from the earth, or until the Holy 
Spirit is taken away from the earth; but our Lord 
Jesus Himself tells us that the Holy Spirit will not be 
taken away from the earth until the church is taken 
away. You will find His words in Jno. 14:15, 16: 
“Tf ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. 
And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you 
another Comforter, that He may be with you for 
ever.” 

As the Spirit is to be with the church “forever,” the 
Spirit cannot be taken out of the world until the church 
is taken out of the world. 

Besides all this, the revealing of “the Man of Sin” 
is in connection with “The Great Tribulation,” and 
“The Great Tribulation,” as any one will see who 
studies it carefully and thoroughly, is distinctly Jew- 
ish, and has to do with the period after the removal 
of the church from the earth. The thought that some 
are advancing that God has already withdrawn His 
Spirit from the church has absolutely no basis what- 
ever in Scripture, but, on the contrary, is contrary to 
the plain teaching of Scripture. The Lord Jesus has 


284 THE CHRIST OF THE BIBLE 


distinctly told us that God will never withdraw His 
Spirit from the church, and the Spirit will be here 
until the church is taken up. He says, as already 
quoted, in Jno. 14:16, 17: 

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give 
you another Comforter, that He may be with you 
for ever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world 
cannot receive; for it beholdeth Him not, neither 
knoweth Him: ye know him; for He abideth with 
you, and shall be in you.” 

It is perfectly clear then from all that has been said 
that there is no event that has been revealed to us that 
must take place before the Lord comes for His church, 
and that, as far as we know, He may come any day 
or at any moment, and He must come before “‘the Man 
of Sin’ is revealed and “The Great Tribulation’ 
breaks. 

Jesus Christ may come for His church to-day. I do 
not say that He will come to-day. I do not say that 
He will come this year or next or next or next. I 
hope to live until He comes; yes, I even expect to live 
until He comes, but I may not. I may be gone from 
this world years before He comes, but He may come 
to-day. The present times, as those who carefully 
study them and also carefully study their Bible know, 
bear a close resemblance to the times of the return of 
the Lord Jesus as pictured in the Bible, and I confess 
that as the days grow darker, my heart grows lighter, 
for Jesus Himself says in Luke 21: 25-28: 

“And there shall be signs in sun and moon and 
stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, in 
perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the bil- 


THE: CHRIST OF THE, BIBLE 285 


lows; men fainting for fear, and for expectation 
of the things which are coming on the world: for 
the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And 
then shall they see the Son of man coming in a 
cloud with power and great glory. But when 
these things begin to come to pass, LOOK UP, 
and lift up your heads; because YOUR RE- 
DEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH.” 

As the days grow darker, the Golden Age draws 
nearer, the age to be ushered in by the Return of our 
Lord. Before the sun sets to-night, there may re- 
sound through the world the voice of the archangel 
and the trump of God and the Lord Himself may 
descend from heaven and we be caught up with our 
loved ones who have fallen asleep, to meet Him in the 
air, and so ever be with Him. If we are so caught up, 
woe be, for a little space, to those who are left behind. 
The appalling atrocities of the Kaiser and his hordes 
in Belgium, in the most awful days of the last war, will 
be nothing to what shall come upon this earth when 
the Devil’s own Kaiser takes the reins of government. 
ARE YOU READY FOR THE COMING OF THE 
LORD JESUS? Make no mistake, refuse to be de- 
ceived, find out to a certainty. If you are ready, then, 
if He comes to-day, up through the roof to unutterable 
glory; if not ready, woe, woe, woe for you, such as this 
world has never seen nor suffered before. 

“BE YE ALSO READY; FOR IN AN HOUR 
THAT YE THINK NOT THE SON OF MAN 
COMETH” (Matt. 24: 44). 


THE END 



















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